President Muizzu of the Maldives received a formal guard of honour at the Prime Minister’s House in Islamabad on Wednesday. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif personally welcomed the visiting leader with a warm handshake and exchanged friendly greetings. The national anthems of both Pakistan and the Maldives played as the two leaders stood together on the salute dais, marking a respectful start to the high-level engagement.
After the ceremony, the leaders introduced their teams and moved into private talks followed by full delegation-level discussions. Earlier in the day, Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar called on President Muizzu. He conveyed warm greetings from President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, highlighting Pakistan’s strong commitment to longstanding fraternal ties with the Maldives.
DPM Ishaq Dar stressed the need to expand cooperation in trade, investment, education, climate change, and tourism. He welcomed the Maldivian business team’s participation in the Pakistan-Maldives Business Forum and expressed hope that direct business contacts would open fresh opportunities for both sides. President Muizzu thanked the Pakistani leadership for the generous hospitality and shared his country’s clear wish to deepen relations and explore new areas of mutual benefit.
President Muizzu arrived in Islamabad on 20 October for a three-day state visit. He is accompanied by First Lady Sajidha Mohamed and a high-level team of cabinet ministers and senior officials. During the stay he will meet President Asif Ali Zardari, who will host a state banquet in his honour. Restricted and full delegation-level talks with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif are also scheduled.
The two countries plan to review the complete range of bilateral relations and look for stronger cooperation in trade, investment, health, education, tourism, agriculture, defence, maritime security, climate change, and people-to-people links. They will also exchange views on regional and international issues of shared interest. Several agreements and memorandums of understanding covering different sectors are expected to be signed.
This visit is the first by a Maldivian president to Pakistan in eleven years and comes as both nations mark sixty years of diplomatic relations established in 1966. The close ties rest on shared faith, mutual respect, and continuous goodwill. The current engagement shows a clear desire on both sides to strengthen the partnership and create practical benefits for their people through expanded cooperation.
