Modi to visit Kuwait over the weekend, 1st by an Indian PM to Gulf nation in 43 years

NEW DELHI: PM Narendra Modi will visit Kuwait on December 21-22 for what will be the first visit by an Indian prime minister to the Gulf country in 43 years. While Modi was also expected to visit Saudi Arabia this month, that visit is now expected to take place next year because of a delay in finalization of dates.

A reliable supplier of crude and LPG to India and home to a million-strong Indian community, Kuwait is the only Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) country Modi had not yet visited. Kuwait currently holds the GCC presidency. Kuwait foreign minister Abdullah Ali Al-Yahya had visited India earlier this month and met Modi to deliver him an invitation to visit the country.

Recalling his meeting with Crown Prince of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah in September in New York, Modi had expressed satisfaction at the growing momentum in bilateral relations, according to an Indian readout. Modi discussed the situation in West Asia with the visiting foreign minister, expressing support for early return of peace, security and stability in the region. Kuwait had on December 1 hosted a summit of the 6-member GCC countries at which it had called for an immediate ceasefire and urged the international community to provide international protection for innocent civilians and to ensure "the opening of safe corridors and the arrival of urgent humanitarian aid."

India too has repeatedly sought a ceasefire in Gaza and called for efforts to ensure that the conflict doesn’t spill over to other parts of West Asia.

The visiting foreign minister and his counterpart S Jaishankar had signed an MoU for establishing a Joint Commission for Cooperation (JCC) at the level of foreign ministers, under which new joint working groups will be set up in areas like trade, investment, education, agriculture, technology, security and culture.

"The JCC mechanism will act as an umbrella institutional mechanism to comprehensively review and monitor the entire gamut of our bilateral relations under the new Joint Working Groups and the existing ones in areas including Hydrocarbons, Health and Consular matters," said the Indian government.

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