Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu Will Pay a State Visit to Pakistan From October 20 to 22 for Trade and Defence Talks

ISLAMABAD: It has been eleven years since a Maldivian president last came to Pakistan. That gap closes this week. The Maldives president visit runs from October 20 to 22 — President Dr Mohamed Muizzu will arrive on a state visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the Foreign Office said on Sunday. First Lady Sajidha Mohamed will accompany him, along with a high-level delegation of cabinet ministers and senior officials.

A banquet, then talks at two levels

During the visit Muizzu will meet President Asif Ali Zardari, who will host a state banquet in his honour. With PM Shehbaz he will hold first restricted and then delegation-level talks. The agenda the Foreign Office set out is a long one: the two leaders will review the entire spectrum of bilateral relations and look for ways to strengthen cooperation in trade, investment, health, education, tourism, agriculture, defence, maritime security, climate change and people-to-people exchanges. Regional and international developments of mutual interest are on the table as well.

A business forum, and signatures expected

The programme includes a Pakistan-Maldives Business Forum, meant to put the two countries’ business communities in the same room and let them hunt for fresh trade and investment opportunities. A number of agreements and memorandums of understanding covering different areas of cooperation are expected to be signed during the visit, the Foreign Office said.

Sixty years on, a first visit in eleven

There is a symbolic weight to the timing. This is the first visit by a Maldivian president to Pakistan in eleven years, and it falls in the year the two countries mark sixty years of diplomatic relations, established back in 1966.