The Ambassador of Maldives to Japan Ibrahim Uvais has presented his Letter of Credence to the Emperor of Japan Akihito.
At a grand ceremony held at the Tokyo Imperial Palace, Ambassador Uvais presented his Letter of Credence and Letter of Recall of his predecessor to the Emperor.
The Maldives and Japan established formal diplomatic relations on November 14, 1967. Maldives opened a resident Embassy in Japan on May 10, 2007.
The first Maldivian Ambassador to Japan Abdul Hameed Zakariyya presented his credentials on March 11, 2008. He was succeeded by Ahmed Khaleel, who presented credentials on February 16, 2010 and Mohamed Hussain Shareef, who presented credentials on April 14, 2017. Ambassador Uvais is the fourth Ambassador from Maldives to Japan.
Meanwhile, President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom was the first Maldivian Head of State to undertake an Official Visit to Tokyo on the invitation of the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe.
During the visit from April 14 to 17 in 2014, President Yameen 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' city in 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.