Maldives Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid has had a productive day in New Delhi, India on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue 2020.

As such, FM Shahid held productive discussions with two of his counterparts from Czech Republic and Latvia as well as the Secretary General of the Commonwealth of Nations, Patricia Scotland.

During the meeting with the Commonwealth SG, FM Shahid expressed gratitude for the expeditious progress in the process of Maldives rejoining the Commonwealth. The pair also discussed procedures in moving forward with the re-admission process.

Member states of the Commonwealth of nations endorsed the Maldives re-admission to the organization in December, and an invitation was extended to submit a formal membership application.

During respective meetings on Tuesday, the minister met Minister of Foreign Affairs of Czech Republic Tomáš Petříček and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Latvia, Edgars Rinkēvičs.

Taking to Twitter to reveal details of both meetings, FM Shahid wrote that discussions with the Czech Minister revolved around a range of issues to strengthen the bilateral relationship between both countries.

He further extended an invitation to Czech Republic to join the inauguration of the Visa Facilitation Center, set to open its doors for services during March 2020.

Meeting with his counterpart from Latvia, the minister revealed that special consideration was given to fish exports as well as easing visa from Maldives to the European Union. Following the meeting, Rinkēvičs also expressed positivity, having discussed bilateral relations, the enhancing of economic ties between both countries and further cooperation within the international organizations.

While this is the very first time the Maldives minister has met both of his counterparts from Czech Republic and Latvia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs revealed that he expressed the government’s keen interest to develop closer ties with the European Union and its countries.

Further, he expressed commitment to increase economic bongs and people-to-people contact, having reiterated the request to facilitate easier visa facilitation for Maldivians.

While this year’s Raisina Dialogue is being held in New Delhi, India from 14 – 16 January, FM Shahid is scheduled to deliver his keynote speech on 15 January.

FM Shahid is attending the Raisina Dialogue on the official invitation from the External Affairs Minister of India Dr Subrahmanyam Jaishankar as well as the President of the Observer Research Foundation, Mr. Samir Saran.

The Raisina Dialogue is an annual conference hosted in collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs of the government of India by the Observer Research Foundation.