Bula Devi reports from New Delhi
External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar paid an official visit to Kuwait on Sunday (August 18). The meeting with his counterpart Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya provided an opportunity to deepen India-Kuwait bilateral relations in all spheres including greater exchanges of visits at various levels.
Both sides expressed “strong interest” in economic partnership, both in trade and investments, according to the Ministry of External Affairs. They discussed “new areas of untapped potential” for further collaboration, for instance in sectors such as pharma, technology, education, etc.
Streamlining of labour and manpower issues and their implementation also came up for discussion. Both leaders exchanged views on regional and global issues of mutual interest.
“The visit was instrumental in imparting a fresh momentum to our bilateral relations and preparing a framework for forthcoming exchanges and concrete deliverables,” according to a statement of the ministry.
During the visit, Dr Jaishankar also called on Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Mubarak Al-Sabah and Prime Minister Ahmed Abdullah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah. The External Affairs Minister thanked the leadership of Kuwait for the guidance in strengthening the bilateral relations between the two countries.
Dr Jaishankar also met a cross-section of prominent members of the Indian community in Kuwait as well as representatives of various professional and community associations. The Indian community in Kuwait is large and quite vibrant, according to the MEA, and the community continues to be a “living bridge” between the two countries.
India and Kuwait’s “friendly relations” are “rooted in history and have stood the test of time”. India has been a natural trading partner of Kuwait and until 1961, Indian Rupee was a legal tender in Kuwait. The year 2021-22 was marked as the 60th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
The strength of the Indian community in Kuwait is approximately 1 million, the largest expatriate community, and is considered as the community of first preference among the expatriate communities. If there are engineers, doctors, architects, management consultants and so on, there are also unskilled and semi-skilled workers who form a large proportion of the community.
The Indian business community in Kuwait has carved out a niche for itself in the retail market and in distributorship. There are many business houses which have established themselves for the last two-three generations.
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