By IANS
Colombo : Sri Lanka will confer its highest title, Lanka Mithra Vibhushana, on Maldivian President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom during his two-day official visit to the island beginning Tuesday.
The honour is in recognition of Gayoom’s contribution to the friendship between the two countries, enhancement of South Asian cooperation, and the global campaign in relation to climate change, a Sri Lankan government release said Monday.
This year Gayoom completes 30 years as president of the Maldives.
Sri Lanka and the Maldives have very close relations. Sri Lankan hotel chains run many well-known resorts in the Maldives, which is a cluster of tiny islands. Many Sri Lankans work in the Maldives in the tourism and hotel sectors.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa paid an official visit to the Maldives in February 2007, and President Gayoom had come to Sri Lanka in August 2006.