This will be the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Kuwait in 43 years
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s two-day visit to Kuwait on December 21-22, 2024 is set to open new avenues for bilateral cooperation even as it reaffirms the strong historical ties between the two countries.

This will be the first visit by an Indian Prime Minister to Kuwait in 43 years; it will see a series of high-level interactions focused on trade, investment, and energy that will set the tone for the relationship over the next few years. Prime Minister Modi will also interact with members of the Indian diaspora in Kuwait, which is one of India’s key partners in the Gulf region.

Secretary for Consular, Passport, and Visa (CPV) and Overseas Indian Affairs (OIA) in the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Arun Kumar Chatterjee briefed the media on the highlights of the visit.

Prime Minister Modi will receive a ceremonial Guard Of Honour at the Bayan Palace following which he will hold separate meetings with the Amir of Kuwait and the Crown Prince. This will be followed by delegation-level talks with Kuwait’s Prime Minister. 

“During these bilateral discussions, the Prime Minister will review with the leadership of Kuwait the entire spectrum of our bilateral relations including areas such as political, trade, investment, energy, culture, and people-to-people ties and the steps both sides need to take to further enhance them,”

The Crown Prince will host a banquet for the visiting Indian Prime Minister. Prime Minister Modi will interact with the Indian diaspora at a community event and visit a labour camp. He will also attend the Opening Ceremony of the 26th Arabian Gulf Cup.

Infusing a Fresh Momentum to Bilateral Relations
The visit is the latest in the series of high-level exchanges between the two sides in recent years and comes less than a month after Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya visited New Delhi on December 3 and 4, 2024.

Prime Minister Modi met Kuwait’s Crown Prince Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September this year.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar visited Kuwait in August this year. He also met his Kuwaiti counterpart on the sidelines of the inaugural India-Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Strategic Dialogue held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in September. 

“These and other Ministerial interactions have infused a fresh momentum to the bilateral relationship between India and Kuwait,” Chatterjee noted.

Earlier this month, India and Kuwait decided to establish a Joint Commission for Cooperation (JCC) at the level of Foreign Ministers. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to this effect was signed in New Delhi on December 4, 2024 by Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya and Indian External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar.

New Joint Working Groups in areas of Trade, Investment, Education, Technology, Agriculture, Security and Culture, will be set up under the JCC. The JCC mechanism will act as an umbrella institutional mechanism to comprehensively review and monitor the entire gamut of India-Kuwait bilateral relations under the new Joint Working Groups and the existing ones in areas including Hydrocarbons, Health and Consular matters.

India has consistently been among the top trading partners of Kuwait. The total bilateral trade with Kuwait during FY 2023-24 was USD 10.47 billion. According to official data, Indian exports have increased from USD 1.56 billion in 2022-23 to USD 2.1 billion in 2023-24.

“Kuwait also remains a reliable energy partner for India both in terms of crude oil and LPG,” Chatterjee pointed out.