Prime Minister Narendra Modi will begin his two-day visit to Kuwait on Saturday by visiting an Indian labor camp to show solidarity with the Indian labor force working in the country. Invited by the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Mesal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, the Prime Minister will hold bilateral talks with the Emir and Crown Prince of Sabah Al-Khalid Al-Sabah of India. Diaspora.
Addressing reporters ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit, Secretary to the Ministry of External Affairs (CPV and OIA), Arun Kumar Chatterjee highlighted the “excellent political relations between the two countries” and added: “This is the first visit of an Indian Prime Minister to Kuwait in 43. years and therefore assumes significant significance.” The last Indian Prime Minister to visit Kuwait was Indira Gandhi in 1981.
Prime Minister Modi will be given a formal guard of honor at the Bayan Palace (Emir’s Palace), after which he will meet the Emir and the Crown Prince separately. During the visit, delegation-level talks will also be held with the Prime Minister of Kuwait.
PM Modi will review with the leadership of Kuwait the entire spectrum of our bilateral relations – trade, investment, energy, culture, and people-to-people relations – and the steps required by both sides to further enhance them, MEA. said
About Modi’s visit to the labor camp, Chatterjee said, “… we have a community of around one million in Kuwait… The aim of the visit to the labor camp is to express how much the Indian government values ​​our workers. Work abroad…”
In June this year, around 40 Indian workers died when a fire broke out in an apartment in Mangaf, south of Kuwait City, which was dominated by migrant workers. With a million-strong diaspora and the largest expatriate community in Kuwait, Indians make up 21 percent of Kuwait’s population and 30 percent of its workforce. Be it carpenters, masons, domestic workers, fabricators, drivers or food delivery riders and courier delivery boys – Kuwait’s dependence on the Indian workforce is huge.
Kuwait is one of India’s top trading partners, with bilateral trade worth $10.47 billion in 2023-24.
It is also India’s sixth largest crude supplier, meeting three percent of the country’s energy needs. Indian exports to Kuwait have reached $2 billion for the first time, while Kuwait Investment Authority’s investment in India has crossed $10 billion.
India and Kuwait have enjoyed friendly relations, where maritime trade with India was the backbone of its economy, in relation to oil relations with former Kuwait. In fact, the Indian rupee remained legal tender in Kuwait until 1961.
A recent high-level meeting between Prime Minister Modi and the Crown Prince of Kuwait on the sidelines of the UNGA in September.
External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Kuwait on August 18, while his counterpart Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya visited India on December 3-4, during which he also met Prime Minister Modi and extended an invitation from the Kuwaiti leadership.
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