ISLAMABAD (The Thursday Times) — Pakistan and the Maldives signed 20 memorandums of understanding on Wednesday as Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif vowed to keep strengthening ties between the two countries “for all times to come,” during a state visit by Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu.
Muizzu arrived in Islamabad on Tuesday for a three-day visit at Shehbaz’s invitation, the first by a Maldivian president to Pakistan in 11 years and the first since relations between the two countries were established in 1966. He was welcomed at Prime Minister House with a guard of honour drawn from all three of Pakistan’s armed forces and met federal ministers before the two sides held delegation-level talks.
The 20 agreements signed on Wednesday covered defence cooperation, maritime security, information technology, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, combating drug trafficking, social protection, health and food regulation, the recruitment of health professionals, vocational training, youth and sports development, and air connectivity. Also signed were agreements between the two countries’ police academies and civil service institutions, along with separate pacts on agriculture, trade, fisheries, environment, education, tourism, and arts and culture.
Shehbaz told the gathering there was “no doubt that the two countries [will] keep on strengthening these relations for all times to come,” and described the Maldivian people as “a nation whose spirit is as vast as the ocean that surrounds it.” He extended what he called a “very warm welcome” to Muizzu and his delegation.
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, who also met Muizzu, said the two countries were expanding cooperation particularly in trade, investment, education, climate change and tourism, and said he hoped parallel business-to-business talks would produce concrete deals. A Pakistan-Maldives Business Forum was held alongside the official visit to encourage direct contact between the two countries’ business communities.
According to Pakistan’s Foreign Office, Muizzu said the Maldives wanted to deepen its close relations with Pakistan. The visit also included a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari and a tree-planting ceremony at Prime Minister House.
The visit follows a meeting last month in Rawalpindi between Maldivian Parliamentary Speaker Abdul Raheem Abdullah and Chief of Defence Forces and Army Chief Field Marshal Asim Munir. The last comparably high-level visit from the Maldives was by then-president Abdulla Yameen in May 2015, at the invitation of then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif.∎
