Sirisena was also given an Honour Guard on arrival at the airport, by the Maldives National Defence Force.

Sirisena was the chief guest at a special reception held in commemoration of Maldives’ 50th Independence Day and held official talks with President Yamin Abdul Gayoom.

Finance Minister Ravi Karunanayake was part of the delegation accompanying President Sirisena.

The visit is Sirisena's first official visit to the Maldives. President Yamin had initially invited his Sri Lankan counterpart to make a visit at his earliest convenience in a congratulatory message sent to him following his victory at the January presidential elections.

However, earlier President Yamin had first invited Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to be chief guest at the Independence Day celeberations, but after having confirmed his arrival, Sharif was forced to cancel due to a severe flooding in Pakistan’s Chithral, displacing thousands of families.

Other diplomatic guests have been arriving in Saturday as authorities claim that over 400 foreign dignitaries will sit in at the ceremony.

Some of these dignitaries include; Vice Chairman at the Chinese parliament’s standing committee, Indian Health Minister Jagat Prakash Nadda, Pakistani Minister for States and Frontier Regions Abdul Gadir Baloch, Nepalese Foreign Minister Mahinda Bahadhur Pandey, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyaz Al-Maliki, Turkish Youth Minister Akif Cagatay Kilic, a Saudi cabinet minister, a Bangladeshi State-Foreign Minister, a special representative of the Qatari Emir, and a special representative of the Singaporean government.

Sri Lanka and Maldives established formal diplomatic relations on 26th July 1965. Thus, this year also marks the 50th Anniversary of the establishment of formal diplomatic relations between the two countries.

(Asia Tribune)