The president of Maldives Ibrahim Mohammad Solih has announced the conferring of the ‘Order of the rule of Izzudeen’, Maldives’ highest honour for a foreign dignitary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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The president’s office said in a statement that the award is “In recognition of the many services he has performed to cement the longstanding, amicable ties between the two countries, and for the magnanimous assistance that the Indian government has continued to provide the Maldives under Prime Minister Modi’s stewardship.”
PM Modi is to begin his first international visit after the new government took oath on May 30. Maldives is the first country the PM is to visit. PM Modi is on a 2-day tour to the Maldives and Sri Lanka.
Maldives has now joined the list of several other countries who have accorded their highest honour on PM Narendra Modi.
In April, Russia had accorded its highest civilian honour, The Order of St Andrew the Apostle, to PM Modi. Before that, the United Arab Emirates had awarded Prime Minister Modi with the highest civilian honour ‘Zayed Medal’ for boosting the relations between India and the Emirates.
PM Modi had also received the 2018 Seoul Peace Prize in South Korea.
PM Modi has also received the Amir Abdullah Khan award, the highest civilian honour of Afghanistan and the King Abdullaziz Sash award, the highest civilian decoration of Saudi Arabia in 2016.
It is notable here that not long ago, many ‘political watchers’ and ‘intellectuals’ had been complaining about India’s deteriorating relationship with the Maldives.