Malta High Commissioner for India Reuben Gauci earlier this week paid a courtesy visit to the Indian State Secretary of External Affairs, Vikas Swarup.

Mr Swarup is perhaps best known outside of India for being the writer of Q & A, the novel that inspired the award-winning film Slumdog Millionaire.

The 2008 film won eight Oscars, including Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay.

Mr Swarup is a career diplomat, having served in Turkey, the US, the UK and South Africa.

In 2015, he was promoted to spokesperson for the Ministry of External Affairs, before taking a leading role in December 2019.

The Maltese High Commissioner called the meeting “a great privilege”.