Kuwait City: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Kuwait is highly significant and is expected to elevate bilateral relations to unprecedented heights, according to India's Ambassador to Kuwait, Adarsh Swaika.
"The visit of the honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modi is very significant, particularly in the context of three important facts. Firstly, that this visit is taking place to Kuwait after a long gap of 43 years. Secondly, this is the only country in the Gulf region that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not visited so far. And thirdly, that between the two sides, also, if you see, this is the first high-level visit in the last one decade. Last, I think the last Prime Minister of Kuwait had visited India in 2013 so this makes the visit very special," Swaika told ANI.
PM Modi is scheduled to visit Kuwait on December 21-22, at the invitation of Kuwait Amir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, according to a release by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA).
During the visit, PM Modi will meet with the leadership of Kuwait and interact with the large and vibrant Indian community in Kuwait. Swaika emphasized that the visit carries strong symbolic value and will likely yield substantial outcomes.
"I think it will be higher in symbolism. And I can also tell you for sure that the outcomes will be very concrete and will take our relations to new heights," he stated.
Discussing the ties between the two nations, Swaika highlighted the importance of the Indian expatriate community in Kuwait and their contributions.
"The two countries have many significant important factors which are necessary for making the relationship important. Firstly, we are the largest expatriate community in Kuwait, this also means that a large amount of remittances are sent back home. In fact, the last year, figures says US dollar 6.3 billion of remittances back back home. Secondly, India is among the top trading partners of Kuwait. For us, Kuwait is the sixth largest import source of crude oil. For Kuwait, food products from India are required to meet their food security. You are seeing increase in bilateral trade in terms of our exports, the first time we touched us dollar 2 billion last year. And within that, you see a lot of Make in India products so," Adarsh Swaika explained.
The ambassador also shed light on mutual investments and the alignment of economic goals with Kuwait's Vision 2035.
"We are seeing some investment from Kuwaiti companies in India, including from the sovereign wealth fund Kuwait Investment Authority. Similarly, back here, lot of Indian companies are now active in execution of large scale infrastructure projects in Kuwait, and that is in line with the vision of Kuwait vision, 2035, so I think there are lot of synergies between our two sides. Politically, also, there is a very good level of understanding," Swaika said.
Adarsh Swaika also noted the uptick in high-level diplomatic engagements in recent months. In the last six months, there have been active exchanges of visits. External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Kuwait in August, while Kuwait's Foreign Minister visited India in December. Additionally, Prime Minister Modi met Crown Prince of Kuwait in New York in September.
In a press release, MEA stated, "India and Kuwait share traditionally close and friendly relations which are rooted in history and have been underpinned by economic and strong people to people linkages. India is among the top trading partners of Kuwait. The Indian community is the largest expatriate community in Kuwait. The visit will provide an opportunity to further strengthen the multifaceted ties between India and Kuwait." (ANI)