Swaraj holds bilateral talks with counterparts from UAE, S Arabia, Maldives, Bahrain

External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj Friday held bilateral talks with her counterparts from Islamic countries like the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the Maldives and Bahrain and exchanged views on the regional situation.

After addressing the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation meeting here, Swaraj held talks with host UAE's Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan and thanked him for inviting India as a 'Guest of Honour' for the first time in the history of the OIC and that too on the occasion of the grouping's golden jubilee.

Saudi Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir also welcomed India at the OIC meeting as the guest of honour and discussed bilateral issues with Swaraj.

Swaraj held talks with Maldives Foreign Minister Abdulla Shahid and discussed follow up to President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih's visit to India in December last year and exchanged views on the regional situation, MEA spokesperson Raveesh Kumar tweeted.

On the sidelines of the OIC meeting, Swaraj also held talks with Uzbekistan Foreign Minister Abdulaziz Kamilov and discussed follow up to the first India-Central Asia Dialogue in Samarkand as well as took stock of progress in bilateral relationship.

She held bilateral meetings with Bahrain Foreign Minister Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa and Bangladesh's AK Abdul Momen.

Swaraj was the first Indian minister to address the meeting of the 57 Islamic countries. India's participation came despite strong demand by Pakistan to rescind the invitation to Swaraj to address the grouping which was turned down by the host UAE, resulting in Pakistan's Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi boycotting the plenary.