Dr Sheikh Sultan bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah arrived at the Trivandrum International Airport in Kerala, India, for a 2-day visit to the state. He is accompanied by Sheikha Jawaher bint Mohammed Al Qasimi, wife of the Ruler of Sharjah and chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs.
The visit came following an invitation to Sheikh Sultan last December by the Kerala Chief Minister of Kerala Sri. Pinarayi Vijayan. The visit comes as part of Sheikh Sultan’s desire to strengthen relationship between Sharjah and the Indian state of Kerala. He also wish to achieve intellectual exchange between the two countries in the fields of culture and art, and study Kerala’s efforts to develop its wider scope of cultural renaissance.
Chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, receiving the ruler of the Emirate of Sharjah Sultan bin Muhammad Al- Qasimi at the airport in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.(Pinarayi Vijayan/Twitter)
Sheikh Sultan was received at the airport by the Chief Minister of Kerala, along with the UAE Ambassador to India, Dr. Ahmed Abdul Rahman Al Banna; Jamal Hussein Al Zaabi, Consul-General of UAE in Kerala; KT Jaleel, Minister of Local Self-Governments, Welfare of Minorities, Wakf and Haj Pilgrimage in Kerala; Mr. Kadakampally Surendran, Minister of Co-operation, Tourism and Devaswoms, and Navdeep Singh Suri, Ambassador of India to the UAE, and a number of diplomats, academics and businessmen.
During his visit to Kerala, Sheikh Sultan was accompanied by Sheikh Sultan bin Ahmed Al Qasimi, chairman of Sharjah Media Council; Sheikh Salem bin Abdulrahman Al Qasimi, chairman of the Sharjah Ruler’s Office; Sheikh Fahim bin Sultan Al Qasimi, executive chairman of Sharjah Department of Government Relations; Abdullah bin Mohammed Al Owais, chairman of the Department of Culture and Information in Sharjah; Mohammed Obaid Al Zaabi, head of Protocol and Hospitality Department; and Mohammed Hassan Khalaf, director-general of the Sharjah Media Foundation.
After his visit to Kerala, the Sharjah Ruler will also meet the Prime Minister of India Mr. Narendra Modi and other senior officials. He will also attend the ceremony to award him the honorary doctorate for his great efforts in serving the Arab and Islamic culture, as well as the appreciation of his intellectual and literary production, which has been translated into several languages.
