External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj will visit the Maldives on Sunday to revive a bilateral mechanism for dialogue between New Delhi and the neighbouring Indian Ocean archipelago.
Swaraj and Maldivian Foreign Minister Dunya Maumoon would co-chair a meeting of India-Maldives joint commission in Male. She will also call on Maldivian President Abdulla Yameen.
She is also scheduled to meet Economic Development Minister, Defence Minister and Health Minister of the Maldives, said External Affairs spokesperson Vikas Swarup.
The last meeting of India-Maldives Joint Commission was held in 2000. The bilateral mechanism is being revived after 15 years.
Swaraj’s two-day visit to Male comes close on the heels of a conclusion by the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention that Maldives’ former president Mohamed Nasheed, who was sentenced to 13 years in prison after being found guilty of terrorism, had not received “a fair trial”.
“As the largest democracy of the world, India has always supported political pluralism and democracy in the country,” said Swarup.
“We expect this situation to be handled in accordance with laws and rules of Maldives and hope that the outcome would be seen by everybody as being fair and just. I think that is the most important thing,” he said.
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