President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has concluded his official visit to Japan and has arrived back to Maldives. The visit was a highly successful, with the president bolstering longstanding friendly relations between the two island nations.
While in Japan, President Solih held bilateral discussions with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the best way to forward the already excellent relations between the two countries. During the meeting, the president thanked the Japanese Premier for all the assistance provided for Maldives and the two leaders offered their respective outlooks on how the two countries can better cooperate bilaterally and on the multilateral fora.
Over the years, Japan have been an irreplaceable friend to Maldives, providing immense amounts of aid, and investing in the development of the human resources, infrastructure and climate resilience efforts of Maldives.
Maldives owe much of its socio-economic progress to Japan, whose magnanimity was essential to helping the country achieve the milestone of graduating from Least Developed Countries (LDCs) status in 2011, to be included in Middle-Income Countries (MICs).
The executing organisation responsible for facilitating much of the projects, investments and aid in Maldives have been the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). To relay his gratitude and explore further avenues for cooperation between Maldives and Japan, he met President of JICA Shinichi Kitaoka, as part of his visit.
The itinerary of his trip also included a visit to Odawara City, the host for Maldivian athletes participating in the 2020 Summer Olympics, where the president met Mayor Kenichi Kato and toured the Shiroyama Athletic Field where Maldivian athletes will train prior for the games. He also visited Japan's Maritime Disaster Prevention Centre (MDPC), where the management and staff shared their expertise regarding preventing and responding to maritime disasters.
The president had travelled to Japan at the invitation of the Japanese Government. In Japan, the president, along with several hundred heads of states and governments, as well as visiting dignitaries, attended the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Naruhito, formalising the new monarch's ascent to the throne.