Maldives have officially submitted the documents to re-join The Commonwealth.
The documents were submitted during a meeting held between Minister of Foreign Affairs of Maldives Abdulla Shahid and Secretary-General of The Commonwealth Patricia Scotland. The meeting was held to discuss the efforts to re-join the organisation, according to the foreign ministry.
After the meeting, in a tweet, Minister Shahid said Maldives aim to retake its rightful place as a member of The Commonwealth. He added Maldives look forward to Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting 2020 (CHOGM 2020).
Meanwhile, on Twitter, Patricia Scotland said she was pleased to be presented with the documents in support of Maldives’ application to re-join The Commonwealth. She said the organisation is hopeful the process will proceed as smoothly and speedily as possible.
Maldives withdrew from the Commonwealth in 2016, under former President Abdulla Yameen. The current President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih made the request to re-join the Commonwealth in a letter to Secretary-General Patricia Scotland last December.