New Delhi, March 27: Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom arrived here Sunday on a six-day visit to India, his first since 2000.

Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed and Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran received the Maldivian president when he arrived with his wife Nasreena.

The visit comes in the wake of India's prompt assistance to Male in the wake of the Feb 1 tsunami disaster that had badly battered many of the nearly 1,200 islands in the atoll nation. The population of a little over 300,000 is distributed in some 250 islands while the rest are uninhabited.

Gayoom, who is serving his sixth term in office and is the longest serving head of state in the region, will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday on bilateral, regional and international issues. The two countries are expected to sign a number of agreements during the visit.

Gayoom will meet President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam on Tuesday and hold talks with External Affairs Minister K. Natwar Singh and Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee.

He leaves for Chennai and Thiruvananthapuram Wednesday.

The visit "would serve to further strengthen the friendly and cooperative ties that exist between the two countries," the external affairs ministry said in a statement.
Courtesy Indo-Asian News Service