{"id":34151,"date":"2024-12-23T18:50:31","date_gmt":"2024-12-23T13:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=34151"},"modified":"2024-12-23T18:50:33","modified_gmt":"2024-12-23T13:20:33","slug":"india-kuwait-ties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/23-12-2024\/india-kuwait-ties","title":{"rendered":"India-Kuwait Elevate Ties to Strategic Partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ International Relations<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Prime Minister Modi paid an official visit to Kuwait marking a historic moment in India-Kuwait relations.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The last Indian prime minister to visit Kuwait was Indira Gandhi in 1981.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Highlights<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Strategic Partnership: <\/strong>India and Kuwait agreed to elevate their relationship to a Strategic Partnership, enhancing cooperation across multiple sectors.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the field of defense<\/strong> was signed, aiming to strengthen ties through joint military exercises, training, coastal defense, and maritime safety.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Both the nations signed the <strong>Executive Program on Cooperation<\/strong> in the Field of <strong>Sports for 2025-2028.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It will strengthen cooperation in the area of sports.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Both the nations signed the <strong>Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) <\/strong>for the years <strong>2025-29.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>PM Modi was conferred with the the highest award of the State of Kuwait <strong>\u2018The Order of Mubarak Al Kabeer\u2019.\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>India-Kuwait Relations in Brief<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Political Relations:<\/strong> India was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic relations with Kuwait following its independence from the British Protectorate in <strong>1961.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Recently a <strong>Joint Commission on Cooperation (JCC)<\/strong> was established between India and Kuwait, to review and monitor the entire spectrum of the bilateral relations between the two countries.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Energy Partnership:<\/strong> Kuwait is a significant energy partner, serving as India\u2019s sixth-largest crude oil supplier and fourth-largest LPG supplier.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>It holds approximately 6.5% of global oil reserves, underlining its strategic role in India\u2019s energy security.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Indian Community: <\/strong>Indians constitute <strong>21 per cent (1 million)<\/strong> of the total population of Kuwait and <strong>30 per cent<\/strong> of its workforce (approximately 9 lakh).\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Indian workers top the private sector as well as the domestic sector workforce list.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Trade relations: <\/strong>Kuwait remains one of India\u2019s top trading partners, with bilateral trade valued at <strong>$10.47 billion <\/strong>in the financial year<strong> 2023-24.<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Medical Cooperation:<\/strong> An MoU on Medical Cooperation was signed in <strong>2012<\/strong>, with a Joint Working Group set up to review progress.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>During the COVID-19 pandemic, Kuwait supplied over <strong>425 metric tons<\/strong> of liquid medical oxygen, oxygen concentrators, ventilators etc.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Way Ahead<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The India-Kuwait trade partnership can be further bolstered by the early conclusion of the <strong>India-GCC Free Trade Agreement,<\/strong> expanding trade in technology, agriculture, and manufacturing, while improving trade facilitation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Both countries should work together on<strong> UN reforms, <\/strong>including expanding the <strong>Security Council\u2019s membership<\/strong> to make it more representative and effective.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Building on Kuwait\u2019s role in India\u2019s energy security, both nations should explore renewable energy partnerships, particularly in solar energy, leveraging Kuwait\u2019s membership in the <strong>International Solar Alliance (ISA).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/pib.gov.in\/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2087074\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>PIB<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prime Minister Modi paid an official visit to Kuwait marking a historic moment in India-Kuwait relations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34151","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34151","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34151"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34151\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34152,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34151\/revisions\/34152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34151"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34151"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34151"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}