How PM Modi’s Kuwait visit completes Gulf-loop with strategic partnership for future

February 12, 2025
Posted by: Anil Trigunayat
Categories: India, Kuwait

Quest of Kuwait for a ‘New Kuwait’ in accordance with their Vision 2035 and India’s unremitting efforts to become ‘Viksit Bharat by 2047’ through Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam can be mutually sustaining and complementary given the increasing convergences of approaches and priorities between the two countries
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Kuwait (December 21-22) at the invitation of His Highness Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Amir of the State of Kuwait. This has been much awaited and could not materialise due to scheduling issues and the late Amir’s health as well as Indian elections. That is not to say that Kuwait is any less important than its sisterly Gulf Cooperation Council and Arab countries—far from it. In fact, PM Modi’s visit also coincided with the first anniversary of the assumption of office by the Amir. PM Modi met the Amir and held detailed discussions with the Crown Prince and the Prime Minister of Kuwait on ways to take the relationship to new heights.

Secretary MEA Arun Kumar Chatterjee reiterated that Kuwait is the key partner. Kuwait has always held and enjoyed an affectionate relationship with India, except for a brief period during the Arab wars of the 1990s when Iraq invaded Kuwait and the then Foreign Minister Inder Kumar Gujral’s embrace with Saddam irked the rulers. But like us, they understand and value the hug diplomacy. They did understand India’s compulsions for the safety of over 100,000 stranded Indians, whose evacuation from the war zones was an immediate priority.

But Kuwait, like other GCC and West Asian countries (and, for that matter, Africa and many other countries across continents as a whole), had suffered equanimous treatment with regard to high-level visits from India, which were absent for over four decades. But since 2008, and especially during PM Modi’s tenure since 2014, India shifted its Link West policy to Act West Policy, which was effectively done through high-level visits and exchanges that bridged that nagging deficit.

Sponsored Links

India has actively engaged with the region, catapulting it to a higher orbit of strategic partnership from a transactional relationship. As MEA Press Release mentions, ‘This was the first visit of an Indian Prime Minister to Kuwait in 43 years’. And this visit sought to further strengthen ’the multifaceted ties between India and Kuwait’. PM in his departure statement also stressed, “We are not just strong trade and energy partners, but also have shared interests in peace, security, stability, and prosperity in the West Asia region.” West Asia is in a dangerous flux; hence, consultations with friends are important, especially as regional stability and security happen to be of paramount importance and linked to our own.

A noted Kuwaiti commentator, Hala Al Makimi, wrote prior to the PM’s visit, ‘Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit is expected to bring renewed hope to the region and present an opportunity for peace. The visit is likely to mark a new chapter in bilateral relations, as both countries share a common agenda for international peace and stability’. No wonder the relationship has been elevated to ‘strategic partnership’ . PM Modi tweeted, “In line with the close ties between our nations, we have elevated our partnership to a strategic one and I am optimistic that our friendship will flourish even more in the times to come”.

Kuwait was my very first foreign country, which I visited as an Air India crew member and then many times as a diplomat dealing with the region. Affection and talks and their memories of India always marked the discussions with the Kuwaiti people. I had also worked on the visit of the then Vice President Hamid Ansari to Kuwait and the reception by the whole cabinet lined up at the airport to receive the dignitary, and discussions were remarkable in content and sought qualitative change in the relationship. Their affection and hospitality, like the rest of the Arab world, were infectious.

In recent times the momentum of ministerial visits had been maintained with the two foreign ministers, among several others, visiting New Delhi and Kuwait, respectively. During the visit of the Kuwaiti foreign minister to India in December 2024, the memorandum of understanding to establish a joint committee for cooperation at the level of foreign ministers was signed, creating a high-level mechanism to monitor progress and address issues on a regular basis. It established new Joint Working Groups in areas of trade, investment, education, technology, agriculture, security, and culture, in addition to the existing ones in areas including hydrocarbons, health, and consular matters, which also indicated the areas in which greater focus will be initiated and where agreements were likely during the PM’s much awaited visit to Kuwait. Moreover, not only did the Kuwaiti foreign minister speak of PM Modi as the ‘wisest leader’, but Kuwait also conferred their highest honour, the Order of Mubarak Al-Kabeer, on PM Modi.

India and Kuwait have a robust institutional mechanism for cooperation with over two dozen agreements across the collaborative spectrum. Over a dozen have been in the pipeline, of which several have been signed during the VVIP visit, laying a new foundation. Trade, investment, defence cooperation, and energy security remain the major fundamental pillars apart from historic and cultural connections.

Kuwait remains a reliable supplier of crude oil and liquefied natural gas to India, amounting to nearly 3 per cent of total Indian needs, and has been the sixth-largest crude supplier. Kuwait has invested over $10 billion in various projects. Yet there is greater potential for the $800 billion Kuwaiti sovereign wealth fund. In fact, the Indian Rupee was a legal tender in Kuwait until the 1960s, and the use of UPI could be a good beginning.

India remains a major trading partner of Kuwait, with bilateral trade crossing over $10 billion and Indian exports also bouncing back significantly post the pandemic. The signing of a new Bilateral Investment Treaty, which upgrades the BIPPA, will go a long way in providing credible assurance and confidence to the investors for exploring and exploiting the exceptional infrastructural opportunity in India. Likewise, Kuwait’s joining of the International Solar Alliance (ISA) will open up new vistas of cooperation in renewable energy.

Currently, Kuwait is the chair of the GCC, and New Delhi has recently refocused on its regional approach with even the relaunch of India-GCC Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiations. Kuwait could help expedite the negotiations. As such, within the GCC and the Arab world, Kuwait has played an important role in diffusing tensions among various neighbours, including during the Qatar blockade with shuttle diplomacy by the Amir himself. Moreover, the India-Middle East-Europe Corridor project’s success to a great extent depends on the India-GCC dynamic since the bilateral trade exceeds $185 billion.

Kuwait, despite being an emirate, is also a unique, vibrant democracy, which is often referred to as the ‘noisiest’, and that is the strength of it. They regard Indian democracy also as a unique one. Although certain religious sensitivities need to be kept in mind, Kuwait broadly adheres to and is sensitive to India’s concerns and interests.

Defence cooperation is also steadily increasing between the two countries with goodwill exchanges of Indian naval ships on a regular basis. The collaboration was strengthened with the visit of Chief of Staff of Armed Forces Lt General Al Khoder in September 2017. Kuwait has over time shown interest in Indian military and defence expertise and specialists apart from regular training of officers. An MoU for Defence Cooperation has been concluded. This MoU will institutionalise bilateral cooperation in the area of defence. Key areas of cooperation include training, exchange of personnel and experts, joint exercises, cooperation in the defence industry, supply of defence equipment, and collaboration in research and development, among others.

India’s over-a-million-strong diaspora has contributed greatly to Kuwait’s development, which is highly appreciated by the people and leadership there. A recent example is the personal attention paid by the Kuwait leadership during the unfortunate fire tragedy in which over fifty Indian workers perished. Prompt and exemplary action was taken by Kuwaiti authorities against the owners of the irregular and illegal constructions that led to the incident. For India, the welfare of the Indian community is of paramount importance, and for that, institutional arrangements have been put in place to address their concerns. PM Modi himself visited the labour camp in Kuwait and addressed the Indian diaspora there. ‘Hala Modi’ was quite a success as PM connected with the Indian diaspora, urging greater collaboration in the era of innovation and smart development. However, the Kuwaitisation of the labour market will have to be addressed as a short- to medium-term strategy by continuously upgrading their skill sets. PM Modi recalled the historic and civilisational P2P ties, even stating that in the most difficult times of the pandemic, the two countries helped each other. No wonder he met the Kuwaitis who translated the ‘Ramayana’ and ‘Mahabharata’ in Arabic for enhancing their access to the Arabic-speaking people.

The author is the former Indian Ambassador to Jordan, Libya and Malta and is currently a Distinguished Fellow with Vivekananda International Foundation. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely those of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost’s views.

How PM Modi’s Kuwait visit completes Gulf-loop with strategic partnership for future

Leave a Reply Cancel reply