Islamabad (TDI): Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu will arrive in Pakistan on Tuesday for a three-day state visit, the first by a Maldivian head of state to the country in more than a decade, the Foreign Office (FO) announced on Sunday.
Muizzu will be in Pakistan from October 20 to 22 at the invitation of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif. He will be accompanied by First Lady Sajidha Mohamed and a delegation of cabinet ministers and senior officials, the FO said.
The program includes a meeting with President Asif Ali Zardari, who will host a state banquet in the visiting leader’s honor. Muizzu will also hold talks with the prime minister, in both restricted and delegation-level formats.
According to the FO, the two leaders will review the full range of bilateral relations and look at ways to deepen cooperation in trade, investment, health, education, tourism, agriculture, defense, maritime security, climate change and people-to-people exchanges.
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They are also expected to discuss regional and international developments of shared concern. A Pakistan-Maldives Business Forum will be held on the sidelines to bring together business communities from both countries and identify trade and investment opportunities.
Several agreements and memorandums of understanding covering different areas of cooperation are expected to be signed during the visit, the FO said, without giving details of the documents.
The trip carries symbolic weight. It comes as the two countries mark 60 years since establishing diplomatic relations in 1966. The last Maldivian president to visit Pakistan was Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom, who made a two-day state visit in May 2015 at the invitation of then-prime minister Nawaz Sharif.
The FO described ties between the two nations as warm and fraternal, grounded in shared faith, mutual respect and long-standing goodwill, as well as cooperation at regional and international forums. It said the visit reflects a shared commitment to strengthen the partnership and open new avenues for mutually beneficial cooperation.
