India has urged the Commonwealth to expedite readmission of the Maldives as a member country. External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar conveyed India’s stand at the 19 Commonwealth Foreign Affairs Ministers Meeting in London.
“The External Affairs Minister... congratulated the member countries on the 70th anniversary of the Commonwealth. He also noted that India is well on the path to fulfil all the commitments made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2018. The Minister called for fast-tracking of the process of readmission of the Maldives to the Commonwealth,” the Ministry of External Affairs said in a statement.
The supportcame weeks after Mr. Modi visited Male in his first overseas trip after his re-election. The Maldives withdrew from the Commonwealth during the tenure of President Abdullah Yameen in 2016 after the Commonwealth expressed serious concern over the deteriorating human rights situation in the country. Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was elected President in a democratic wave against the rule of Mr. Yameen.
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Mr. Jaishankar interacted with his counterparts from Australia, Canada, Bangladesh and British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt. He thanked the British government for supporting Mr. Modi’s initiative to build a global Coalition of Disaster Resilient Infrastructure.