Prime Minister Narendra Modi will go to Kuwait on December 21-22, the primary Indian Prime Minister to take action in 43 years.
Asserting the go to on Wednesday, the Ministry of Exterior Affairs stated that Kuwait’s Amir, Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, had prolonged the invitation and through the go to, the Prime Minister will maintain discussions with the management of Kuwait. Modi may also work together with the Indian neighborhood in Kuwait.
“The go to will present a chance to additional strengthen the multifaceted ties between India and Kuwait,” the MEA assertion stated.
“India and Kuwait share historically shut and pleasant relations that are rooted in historical past and have been underpinned by financial and robust people-to-people linkages. India is among the many prime buying and selling companions of Kuwait. The Indian neighborhood is the most important expatriate neighborhood in Kuwait,” the assertion stated.
Latest high-level conferences embody that of Prime Minister M Modi with Kuwait’s Crown Prince on the sidelines of UNGA in September 2024.
In 2024, the overseas ministerial visits from India to Kuwait embody that of Exterior Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on August 18. Equally, the Overseas ministerial visits from Kuwait to India embody that of Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya, Minister of Overseas Affairs, from December 3-4 throughout which he additionally referred to as on Prime Minister Modi and prolonged Kuwaiti management’s invitation to go to Kuwait. Each the overseas ministers additionally met on the sidelines of the first India-GCC Strategic Dialogue Committee assembly in Riyadh on September 9.
India and Kuwait have institutionalised their cooperation via mechanisms such because the Joint Fee for Cooperation (JCC) that was established through the go to of Kuwaiti Overseas Minister to India in December 2024, which is headed on the Overseas Minister stage, seven new Joint Working Teams (JWGs) have been established within the areas of commerce, funding, training, expertise, agriculture, safety, and tradition.
Kuwait is amongst India’s prime buying and selling companions, with bilateral commerce valued at USD 10.47 billion in FY 2023-24. It’s India’s sixth largest crude provider, assembly 3% of the nation’s vitality wants. Indian exports to Kuwait reached USD 2 billion for the primary time, whereas investments by the Kuwait Funding Authority in India exceed USD 10 billion.
Kuwait stays a dependable vitality accomplice, rating as India’s sixth largest provider of crude oil and 4th largest of LPG.
Through the years, there have been a number of high-level visits between the 2 nations, together with Indian leaders comparable to Vice President Dr Zakir Husain (1965), Prime Minister Indira Gandhi (1981) and Vice President Shri Hamid Ansari (2009). The VVIP visits from Kuwait to India have been of Crown Prince and Prime Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Salem Al-Sabah (1964); Amir Sheikh Jaber Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (1980) and once more in 1983 (for the NAM Summit); Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah (2006); Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah (2013).
Amir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Jaber Al Sabah visited India on a non-public go to in July 2017. The final high-level go to from both aspect was that of the Prime Minister of Kuwait to India in 2013.
Why must you purchase our Subscription?
You need to be the neatest within the room.
You need entry to our award-winning journalism.
You don’t need to be misled and misinformed.
Select your subscription bundle
