Speaker of Maldives Parliament Abdul Raheem Abdulla has met with Om Birla, Speaker of India’s Lok Sabha, during an official engagement held in New Delhi.

The meeting took place on the sidelines of the 28th Conference of Speakers and Presiding Officers of the Commonwealth, where the two leaders discussed ways to further strengthen bilateral legislative cooperation between the Maldives and India.

During the discussions, Speaker Om Birla described the Maldives as a key partner under India’s “Neighbourhood First” policy, reaffirming India’s commitment to supporting the development of Maldives Parliament.

He highlighted India’s readiness to assist in strengthening the Majlis’ administrative framework and to provide training and capacity-building opportunities for parliamentary staff.

The two Speakers also exchanged views on the importance of sharing legislative expertise, including the adoption of modern digital technologies used by the Indian Parliament.

These include digital parliamentary processes, artificial intelligence–enabled initiatives, and multilingual real-time translation systems.

In a post on social media platform X, Speaker Birla said that India and the Maldives share close and time-tested relations grounded in democratic values and mutual respect.

He noted that recent visits by the Prime Minister of India and the President of the Maldives have further strengthened bilateral ties.

Discussions also covered avenues to enhance cooperation in defence, security, infrastructure development, and community-focused initiatives, with both sides emphasising parliamentary cooperation as a key pillar of the broader bilateral relationship.