Minister of External Affairs S. Jaishankar met with Comoros Foreign Minister Mbae Mohamed in New Delhi today. In a post on X, Jaishankar said, “A pleasure to meet Foreign Minister Mbae Mohamed of Comoros today. We discussed cooperation in health, sports, infrastructure, and capacity building, and agreed on the importance of more frequent engagements between our countries.”

Mohamed had arrived in New Delhi just a day earlier to attend the 2nd India-Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting (IAFMM) scheduled for Saturday. MEA spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal noted that the visit would further strengthen the friendly relations between India and the Union of Comoros. Through X, Jaishankar welcomed him, saying his visit would enhance bilateral ties.

India and Comoros established diplomatic relations in June 1976. The Embassy of India in Antananarivo is concurrently accredited to Comoros. The two countries share close and friendly ties, with similar positions on several regional and multilateral issues. Comoros has been a member of the Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) since 2012 and the International Solar Alliance since 2017. The Indian diaspora in Comoros numbers around 250 people, mainly involved in trade, business, and other professions, contributing significantly to the local economy.

The 2nd India-Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, co-chaired by India and the UAE, will include Foreign Ministers from Arab League member states and the Arab League Secretary-General. The meeting comes after a 10-year gap, the first having been held in Bahrain in 2016, which identified five priority areas: economy, energy, education, media, and culture. The upcoming meeting aims to expand and deepen cooperation under this framework.

The India-Arab Foreign Ministers’ Meeting is the highest institutional mechanism for the partnership, formalized in 2002 through an MoU between India and the League of Arab States. The Arab-India Cooperation Forum was established via a Memorandum of Cooperation in 2008 and revised in 2013. India is an Observer to the League of Arab States, which represents 22 Arab countries. This is the first time India is hosting the IAFMM in New Delhi, with participation from all 22 Arab nations at various ministerial and senior official levels. The meeting will be preceded by the 4th India-Arab Senior Officials’ Meeting on Friday.