New Delhi: India on Monday named Sunjay Sudhir, a 1993 batch officer of the Indian Foreign Service (IFS), as its new Ambassador to the Maldives. Sudhir, presently Joint Secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas, is expected to take up the assignment shortly, the External Affairs Ministry said in a statement.


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Sudhir will succeed Akhilesh Mishra in Male. Ties between India and the Indian Ocean atoll nation started improving towards the end of 2018 after remaining strained most of the year over former Maldivian President Abdul Yameen`s policies.


Yameen, seen to have been distancing himself from India and leaning towards China, imposed a state of emergency in the Maldives in February last year. The crisis ended in September when Ibrahim Mohammed Solih, the joint opposition candidate, defeated Yameen in the presidential election.


Modi attended Solih`s swearing in ceremony on November 17.