Seven leaders from Indian Ocean region arrive in Delhi for Modi's oath ceremony

Top leaders from Indias neighbourhood and the Indian Ocean region including Maldives President Mohamed Muizzu Nepal Prime Minister Pushpa Kamal Dahal Prachanda and Sri Lankan President Ranil Wickremesinghe arrived in Delhi on Sunday to attend the swearingin ceremony of Prime Ministerdesignate Narendra Modi and the Union council of ministersMauritius Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth and his Bhutanese counterpart Tshering Tobgay also reached Delhi for the ceremony where Modi will take the oath for the third straight term along with his ministerial colleagues Bangladesh President Sheikh Hasina and VicePresident of Seychelles Ahmed Afif arrived in Delhi on SaturdayAmong the foreign leaders Muizzus visit has assumed greater significance as it came against the backdrop of the ties between India and the Maldives witnessing significant strain It is Muizzus first visit to India after he became the island nations president on November 17 last yearThe swearingin ceremony is scheduled to start at 715 pm at the Rashtrapati BhavanPresident MMuizzu of Maldives arrives to a warm welcome in New Delhi to attend the swearingin ceremony of Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on X India and Maldives are maritime partners and close neighbours he addedSaturday Muizzu said he looked forward to working with Modi to further strengthen the close relations with India noting that the relationship between the two countries is heading in the positive directionThe ties between India and the Maldives came under severe strain after Muizzu known for his proChina leanings took charge of the top officeWithin hours of his oath he had demanded the withdrawal of Indian military personnel from his country The Indian military personnel were replaced by civilians earlier this monthAfter the arrival of Tobgay Jaiswal said the visit would further strengthen close bonds of friendship and cooperation between India and BhutanOn the visit by Wickremesinghe the MEA spokesperson said India and Sri Lanka are civilisational partners and enjoy strong and enduring bilateral tiesNepal PM Prachanda was the last one to arrive in DelhiThe visit reflects the unique IndiaNepal ties and will also provide further impetus to our multifaceted relationship Jaiswal said on XThe visit of the leaders to attend the swearingin ceremony of Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his third consecutive term is in keeping with the highest priority accorded by India to its Neighbourhood First policy and SAGAR vision the Ministry of External Affairs saidIndia has been cooperating with the countries of the Indian Ocean region under the broader policy framework of SAGAR or Security and Growth for all in the RegionIn addition to participating in the swearingin ceremony the foreign leaders will also attend a banquet hosted by President Droupadi MurmuModi is likely to hold separate bilateral meetings with the foreign leadersThe leaders of regional grouping SAARC South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation countries attended Modis first swearingin ceremony when he took the reins as the prime minister after a massive electoral victory for BJPLeaders of the BIMSTEC countries attended Modis swearingin ceremony in 2019 when he became the prime minister for the second consecutive termThis time though the BJP could not get a majority on its own in the recent Lok Sabha polls the partyled alliance secured 293 seats out of 543 The majority mark in the lower house is 272Meanwhile Bangladesh PM Hasina called on BJP patriarch LK Advani at his residenceThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever