Thiruvananthapuram: His Highness Dr Shaikh Sultan Bin Mohammad Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, arrived on Sunday to the south Indian state of Kerala on a two-day visit.
Dr Shaikh Sultan was accompanied by his wife, Shaikha Jawaher Bint Mohammad Al Qasimi, Chairperson of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs.
They were received upon their arrival at Trivandrum International Airport by Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala, Dr Ahmad Abdul Rahman Al Banna, UAE Ambassador to India, Jamal Hussain Al Za’abi, UAE Consul-General to Kerala, Navdeep Singh Suri, India’s Ambassador to UAE, and other officials.
Also welcoming Shaikha Jawaher was Kamala Vijayan, wife of the CM of Kerala.
During his official visit, Dr Shaikh Sultan will hold a meeting with Pinarayi Vijayan and other senior officials.
Dr Shaikh Sultan will also be presented with an honorary doctorate for his efforts in conveying his enlightened thoughts that brings together people from different backgrounds by personally setting up and supervising centres, programmes and cultural activities.
The visit comes as a response to the invitation extended to Dr Shaikh Sultan by Vijayan in December 2016, during a meeting they held in Sharjah. The visit is in line with the Sharjah Ruler’s keenness to bolster relations between Sharjah and Kerala, to achieve intellectual exchange between the two cities in the fields of culture and art and to review Kerala’s efforts in comprehensive cultural development.
The honouring also comes in recognition of Dr Shaikh Sultan’s outstanding role and unremitting support for science and scientific research, in addition to his great efforts in serving Arab and Islamic culture, and in appreciation of his intellectual historical and literary production, which has been translated into several world languages and enriched many libraries around the world.
