India on Thursday had confirmed the upcoming defense expo from April 11 lasting till 14 would not be participated by a ministerial delegate from Maldives.
According to the Times Of India though the south-Asian giant extended invitation to take part in the expo which is set at Tiruvidanthai, Maldives had kindly declined due to the island nation defense minister's already planned official trip another parts of the globe around the same dates.
India had also extended their invitation to the Asian and one of the global superpowers, China to take part in the expo as well. However as of now it is uncertain whether China will make any appearances at the event.
The expo will witness a total of 677 different entities showcasing their product lines and inventories. Among the participants 154 corporations are weapons manufacturers while a total of 47 countries have dispatched their official delegates to the convention.
"This include 18 ministerial level delegate groups as well," a top ranking Indian official spoke to Times Of India.
While India is set for the weapons expo in 2018 the number of participants this time around had decreased by 10% compared to 2017.
Meanwhile Maldives had not responded to India's most recent invitation to participate in military training that took place in Andaman and Nicobar Islands - an island archipelago under India jurisdiction, situated in the Bay of Bengal.
Maldives had excused itself from sending troops to the training since Maldives was under a presidential decreed state of emergency - that had stretched to a total of 45 days.
Though both countries had made official statements to balm the political 'stiffness' between India and Maldives it is evident the former's strong reiteration to the latter towards implementing local Supreme Court's order on February 1 had deteriorated political relationship between the two nations.
Furthermore following incumbent president Abdulla Yameen's declaration of a state of emergency on February 5, India was among the top critics who strongly voiced against the move and attempted to compel Maldivian state to lift the emergency.
The awkward deterioration in the political ties between the two countries became all the more pressing when on Wednesday reports had confirmed Maldives state had refused to renew a contract with India regarding one of the helicopters the south-Asian giant had gifted the island nation with.
News broke that the local government had requested from New Delhi to take the helicopter back to the origin country.
