Indian Minister of External Affairs Dr. S. Jaishankar arrived in Maldives this Saturday afternoon, following an invitation from Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdulla Shahid.

Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid received the Minister of External Affairs of India, at Velana International Airport (VIA).

While this is the first high-level bilateral trip of India's External Affairs Minister Jaishankar, this year, his official trip to Maldives will last two days, from 20 to 21 February.

During his trip, Minister Jaishankar would pay a courtesy calls on President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih and Former President and Speaker of Parliament Mohamed Nasheed. He will also be meeting with the Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid, in addition to the Minister of Defense. A joint meeting will also be conducted between Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar and the Maldivian Minister of Finance, Minister of Economic Development and the Minister of National Planning, Housing and Infrastructure over the course of the trip.

Important agreements will be signed between India and the Maldives during the visit.

Further, the Indian minister will be inaugurating key development projects being conducted in the Maldives with aid from India.

This will be the second official trip of India's External Affairs Minister Dr. Subrahmanyam Jaishankar since assuming office in May 2019. Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar first made an official visit to the Maldives to participate in the 5th Indian Ocean Conference in September 2019.