'Rule of Nishan Izzuddeen': Maldives confers country's highest honour on PM Modi

Prime Minister Narendra Modi was conferred with the Maldives' highest honour "Rule of Nishan Izzuddeen" on Saturday during his two-day state visit to the country.

The prestigious award was presented to Modi by President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih during a ceremony here.

"The Most Honourable Order of the Distinguished Rule of Nishan Izzuddeen" is the Maldives' highest honour accorded to foreign dignitaries, Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid said on Twitter.

Watch: PM @narendramodi bestowed Maldives' Highest Honour pic.twitter.com/zlXuuaRX0s

— DNA (@dna) June 8, 2019

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was conferred with the Order of the distinguished rule of Izzudeen (Nishan Izzudeen award) by the Maldivian government, in recognition of the many services he has performed to cement the longstanding, amicable ties between our two countries, and for the assistance Indian government continues to provide to the Maldives under PM Modi’s stewardship. Nishan Izzudheen award is the highest award offered by the Maldivian Government to foreign dignitaries.

Some of the recipients of this award have been:
Duke of Edinburgh, Earl Mount-baton - 1972

President of South Korea Chun Doo Hwan -1984

Commonwealth secretary general Sir Shridath ramphal -1989

Prince of Saudi Arabia Talal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud - 2009

President of Palestine Dr. Mahmoud Abbas - 2013

The ceremony for this event was held in the evening today, June 8th, at the President’s office, as part of the Prime Minister’s State Visit to the Maldives.

The two-day state visit of Prime Minister Modi is aimed at further cementing ties with the Indian Ocean archipelago.

President Solih and Modi exchanged pleasantries upon the prime minister's arrival at Republic Square where he was accorded a ceremonial welcome.

Earlier, Prime Minister Modi and President Solih held delegation-level talks as the two countries signed a slew of agreements to strengthen bilateral ties in a number of key areas including defence.

The prime minister also inspected the guard of honour.

While Modi visited the Maldives in November 2018 to attend President Solih's swearing-in, this visit is the first by an Indian prime minister at a bilateral level in eight years.

The relations between India and the Maldives deteriorated after the then President Abdulla Yameen imposed emergency on February 5 last year.

Some decisions by Yameen including the imposition of restrictions on work visas for Indians and signing of a new Free Trade Agreement with Beijing also did not go down well with New Delhi.

However, ties were back on track under Solih's presidency.

China views the Maldives as key to its Maritime Silk Road project in the Indian Ocean as it has already acquired Hambantota port in Sri Lanka and Djibouti in the Horn of Africa.