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SUBJECT [Jun 11] India's PM visits Maldives and Sri Lanka; Greek PM asks President to dissolve Parliament
DATE 2019-06-11
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PHOTO: Hussaine Waheed/Mihaaru. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Speaker Mohamed Nasheed at the Maldivian Parliament.

 

India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the Maldives and Sri Lanka on June 8 and 9, his first trip abroad since his re-election. This has been seen as a sign that he would continue his “neighborhood first” policy for its allies in South Asia, which promised India’s neighbors prioritized benefits of India’s economic growth since Modi assumed office in 2014.

 

Addressing the Maldivian Parliament during his visit, PM Modi said terrorism is not just a threat for a country but to the entire civilization: “The world community has organized conventions and meetings on global challenges like the climate change, now it should also come together on the issue of terrorism. It is time for a global conference on terrorism,” Modi said.

 

PM Modi also emphasized his “neighborhood first” policy: “India has always shared its achievements with the world. India’s development partnership is to empower people, not to weaken them and neither to increase their [partner countries] dependence on us nor to put an impossible burden of debt on the shoulders of future generations.”

 

Modi is the first foreign Head of Government to visit Maldives after President Ibrahim Solih’s historic election in September; an address in parliament becomes possible only through a parliamentary resolution, independent of the party in power and the incumbent Government’s invitation for visiting the country.

 

After the address, Speaker Nasheed presented a copy of the first Constitution of the Maldives in recognition and gratitude for the defense and security extended by India to the archipelago throughout history. Speaker noted that the Maldivian parliament was born out of the first Constitution which was drafted in 1931 and implemented in 1932 during the reign of Sultan Mohamed Shamsudeen Iskandar III. He further expressed his wishes for Maldives-India relations to enjoy a happy, prosperous and productive journey in the future.

 

PM Modi and Maldivian President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih also held extensive talks as the two countries signed six agreements to strengthen bilateral ties in a number of key areas, including hydrography, health, passenger and cargo services by sea, cooperation in customs capacity-building, training and capacity building for Maldivian civil servants, and a series of agreements between the defense forces of the two countries. President Solih reaffirmed Maldives’ “India-First Policy” and pledged his government’s full support towards deepening a mutually beneficial partnership.

 

In Sri Lanka, PM Modi made an unscheduled visit to St Anthony’s Shrine, a Colombo church that was bombed during the Easter suicide attacks. He paid tribute to the victims, and posted on Twitter that "I am confident Sri Lanka will rise again. Cowardly acts of terror cannot defeat the spirit of Sri Lanka. India stands in solidarity with the people of Sri Lanka."

 

PM Modi met with Sri Lanka’s PM Ranil Wickremesinghe and discussed ways to combat attacks such as the Easter bombing which left 258 dead and nearly 500 injured on April 21. "Since both Sri Lanka and India have been victims of terrorism, both the leaders condemned terrorism in all its forms and manifestations and decided to step up cooperation in this critical area," Sri Lanka's presidential office said in a statement.

Gree

https://news.yahoo.com/indias-modi-visits-bombed-sri-101344385.html

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/india-modi-unscheduled-stop-bombed-sri-lanka-church-190609134242388.html

https://www.theepochtimes.com/indian-prime-minister-modi-visits-sri-lanka-and-the-maldives-to-bolster-ties-amid-beijings-growing-influence_2957613.html

https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/state-sponsored-terror-biggest-threat-to-humanity-pm-modi-in-maldives-parliament/articleshow/69707307.cms

https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/maldives-majlis-elects-nasheed-speaker-maiden-resolution-invites-modi-to-address-the-house-51602/

https://edition.mv/news/10921

https://www.news18.com/news/india/narendra-modi-in-maldives-live-pm-touches-down-in-male-on-1st-foreign-visit-after-re-election-2177579.html

 

 

 

 

 

PHOTO: Greek Reporter. Greek PM Alexis Tsipras (left) asking the Greek President Prokopios Pavlopoulos to dissolve Parliament.

 

Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras visited the President Prokopios Pavlopoulos on Monday afternoon to ask him to officially dissolve the Greek Parliament.

 

In a long-lasting tradition, Greek Premiers visit the President in the Presidential Palace in Athens and, normally using a reason concerning national security or the economy as a political pretext, they ask the President to dissolve Parliament and determine the day of the next national elections.

 

Tsipras said in front of the cameras that following the results of the European Elections, there is a sense that Greece is in a prolonged campaign period of nearly four months if the government’s term ends in October as planned, and this could pose possible dangers for the Greek economy. For this reason, the PM asked the President to dissolve the Parliament.

 

President Pavlopoulos said that he accepts the Prime Minister’s demand; a Presidential decree will be issued, and the parliament is expected to dissolve this week. Greeks will head to the polls on July 7.

 

The meeting took place fourteen days after the governing left-wing SYRIZA party lost to the opposition conservative New Democracy (ND) party by 9.35 percentage points in the European elections.

 

That very night, Tsipras announced that he intended to hold snap national elections, instead of waiting for his normal tenure to finish this autumn.

 

All 300 seats in the country’s Parliament will be contested in the upcoming polls. It will be the first national election in Greece in which the voting age will be lowered to seventeen instead of eighteen years of age.

 

This is the first time that the number of parliamentary constituencies will be different as well, as they increased from 56 to 59. This is occurring because the once-enormous “Athens B” district is now divided into smaller constituencies.

 

In the upcoming elections, 231 seats from a total of 300 will be elected in multi-seat constituencies proportionally; 50 seats are then awarded to the largest party or coalition as a bonus. 12 seats will be elected as a single national multi-seat constituency and 7 seats will be elected in single-seat constituencies under the “First-Past-the-Post” system.

 

http://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2019-06/11/c_138131875.htm

https://greece.greekreporter.com/2019/06/10/pm-tsipras-asks-greek-president-to-dissolve-parliament-hold-national-elections/

 

 

BY MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr)