After the conclusion of a successful Raisina Dialogue 2020, Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid has concluded his visit to New Delhi, India.

During the span of two and a half very productive days, FM Shahid held 15 bilateral meetings, gave interviews to seven media outlets and was part of three speaking engagements.

Describing the visit to be “busy but fulfilling”, FM Shahid asserted that this was a great way to start the country’s international engagements for the new year.

While the purpose of Shahid’s visit was to deliver a keynote speech at this year’s edition of the Raisina Dialogue 2020, he addressed the conference on 15 January. His keynote speech mainly revolved around human-induced risks in increasing climate change and the mounting threat posed by it to maritime nations.

During the short visit, the foreign minister met several counterparts on the sidelines of the Raisina Dialogue including from India, Czech Republic, Latvia, Russia, Denmark, Hungary, Estonia as well as South Africa.

Further meetings held include with the Secretary General of the Commonwealth Patricia Scotland, National Security Advisor of Afghanistan, the Deputy National Security Advisor of the United States of America, the Chief of Defense Staff of India, Foreign Secretary (designate) of India and the European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

Another important highlight of the minister’s visit includes a courtesy call paid by ministerial delegates attending the dialogue, on Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi.

In addition to his keynote speech, FM Shahid also joined the roundtable discussion on Resilient Infrastructure, organized by the Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure and the Observer Research Foundation.

FM Shahid also joined Facebook Live event during his visit to speak on climate change and terrorism.

The Maldives delegation attending this year’s Raisina Dialogue includes Ambassador of Maldives to India Aisha Mohamed Didi, Minister (Deputy Chief of Mission) Aminath Shabeena, Communications Director Miuvaan Mohamed, Director of the India Section Mariyam Midhfa Naeem and officials of the Embassy of Maldives in India.

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.