Sri Lankan PM set to visit Maldives next week
The PM is to arrive on Monday, on President Solih's invitation
President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and PM Ranil Wickremesinghe
Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe of Sri Lanka is to visit the Maldives next month.
The President’s Office said that Wickremesinghe will be arriving in the country on an official visit on September 2, on the invitation from President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih.
He will be accompanied by wife Maithree Wickremesinghe, as well a high-level delegation which includes four cabinet ministers.
In addition, the prime minister will be chairing the Indian Ocean Conference 2019, which is to be held at Paradise Island Resort from 3-4 September.
Organized by the India association along with Maldivian government and Singapore’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, the theme of the 4th edition of the Indian Ocean Conference is “Securing the Indian Ocean Region: Traditional and Non-Traditional Challenges.” Participants are to deliberate on developing effective regional institutional mechanism for implementation of prevailing norms and rule.
Those that are set to speak at the conference are, President Solih, Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, PM Wickremesinghe, India’s External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar, Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, Foreign Minister of Bhutan Tandi Dorji, Nepal’s Foreign Minister Pradeep Kumar Gyawali, Deputy Foreign Minister of African Affairs of Egypt Hamdy Sanad Loza and United State’s National Security Council’s Senior Director for South and Central Asia Lisa Curtis.
President Solih was recently in Sri Lanka on an unofficial visit, his fourth since being elected last September; he first traveled to the neighboring nation as president-elect, to accompany former President Mohamed Nasheed back to the country, and took a second unofficial trip in January.
And then in February, Solih traveled to the nation on President Maithripala Sirisena’s invitation and was the guest of honour at its 71st anniversary celebrations; a first for a Maldivian president.
A high-level delegation -comprising of Vice President Faisal Naseem and Speaker, former President Mohamed Nasheed- traveled to Sri Lanka in June, to show solidarity following the Easter Sunday terrorist attack.
