Saudi Arabia and China’s leaders congratulate Maldives president-elect

Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz and Chinese President Xi Jinping have congratulated president-elect Ibrahim Mohamed Solih on his election victory.

Both the Saudi king and crown prince made phone calls to the president-elect on Sunday, “looking forward to developing and enhancing relations between the two countries.”

Imran Khan, Pakistan’s new prime minister, called Solih on Monday morning, his spokeswoman Mariya Ahmed Didi said at her daily press briefing.

In his congratulatory message, Xi Jinping expressed willingness to cement the China-Maldives friendship and “deepen mutually beneficial cooperation in various fields to better benefit the people of both countries,” according to the state-run Xinhua news agency.