Maldives’ Ambassador to Japan Ibrahim Uvais presents his Credentials to Japanese Emperor Akihito

June 19, 2018

The new Ambassador of the Republic of Maldives, His Excellency Ibrahim Uvais, has presented his Letter of Credence to the Emperor of Japan, His Majesty Akihito. At a grand ceremony held this morning at the Tokyo Imperial Palace, Ambassador Uvais presented his Letter of Credence and Letter of Recall of his predecessor to His Majesty the Emperor.

Ambassador Ibrahim Uvais was accompanied at the ceremony by Mr. Adam Hamid, First Secretary and Mr. Mohamed Thahseen, Second Secretary at the Maldives’ Embassy in Japan.

The Maldives and Japan established formal diplomatic relations on 14 November 1967. Maldives opened a resident Embassy in Japan on 10 May 2007. The first Maldivian Ambassador to Japan, His Excellency Abdul Hameed Zakariyya presented his credentials on 11 March 2008. He was succeeded by His Excellency Ahmed Khaleel, who presented credentials on 16 February 2010 and His Excellency Mohamed Hussain Shareef, who presented credentials on 14 April 2017. Ambassador Uvais is the fourth Ambassador of the Republic of Maldives to Japan.

President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom was the first Maldivian Head of State and Government to undertake an Official Visit to Tokyo on the invitation of the Japanese Prime Minister Mr. Shinzo Abe. During the visit from 14 to 17 April 2014, President Yameen had met with Emperor Akihito, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and senior officials of the Japanese Government and the National Diet or Parliament.

The Embassy of Japan accredited to Maldives was opened in Male on 1 January 2016. Last year, marked the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries and it was commemorated with bilateral exchanges between the two countries including three meetings of the foreign ministers, the most recent of which was a visit to Tokyo by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Mohamed Asim from June 13 to 15, 2018.

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