Maldives president to visit India in May

New Delhi/Male, April 3 (IANS) External Affairs Minister S.M. Krishna Tuesday held talks with his Maldivian counterpart Abdul Samad Abdulla here as the Maldives government announced that President Mohammed Waheed Hasan will be coming to New Delhi next month.

Abdulla updated Krishna on the evolving situation in his country and the efforts of the new government to stabilise the Indian Ocean atoll nation that depends heavily on tourism revenues.

As the meeting between the two foreign ministers, Abdulla gave a detailed account of the chain of events that led to the transfer of power in the Maldives Feb 7, which some have decried as a coup.

In Male, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Dhunya Maumoon announced that Waheed will travel to India next month. She, however, did not give the dates for the visit.

The president will hold talks with Indian leaders on improving bilateral ties, was all she would say.

The announcement came soon after former president Mohamed Nasheed, who had to resign amid a police mutiny, said he was planning to visit India mid-April.

In early March, India had helped broker a deal among Maldives' political parties which envisaged a broad consensus for early elections in a 'quick time frame' and a growing recognition of New Delhi's role as a facilitator in resolving the political crisis in the nation.