Vice president on official visit to India

Vice President Mohamed Waheed is on an official visit to India. He arrived in the neighbouring country on 18 February.

This follows close visits by Indian Chief of Army Staff, General Deepak Kapoor, and MP Rahul Gandhi to the Maldives, and the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) recently signed by the Maldives and India.

On 19 February at a meeting held at the official residence of the Indian Vice President Hamid Mohamed Ansari, Dr Waheed thanked India “for its support in introducing democracy in the Maldives.”

Vice President Ansari assured Vice President Waheed of the continued support from India to the Maldives in the areas of social and economic development.

Dr Waheed then met with President of India Pratibha Patil on 20 February. At a meeting at the official residency, the vice president said providing education and job opportunities for Maldivian youth was “important to prevent them from the scourge of drugs,” and asked that Indian institutions assist in providing more higher education opportunities for Maldivian youth.

The vice president then met with Indian External Affairs Minister Shri S. M. Krishna. Dr Waheed asked for assistance in preventing drugs being trafficked from India into the Maldives and providing rehabilitation treatment for addicts.

Dr Waheed also met with Indian Minister of State for Science and Technology and Earth Sciences, Shri Prithviraj Chavan. They spoke of the issue of climate change.