Indian envoy Adarsh Swaika calls on newly appointed Kuwait minister of Commerce, discusses bilateral ties
Feb 20, 2024
Kuwait City [Kuwait], February 20 : The Indian Ambassador to Kuwait, Adarsh Swaika on Tuesday called on the newly appointed Kuwait's Minister of Commerce and Industry, Abdullah Hamad AlJouan and highlighted the growing bilateral ties between the two countries.
During their meeting, both leaders discussed the significant potential for strengthening bilateral economic cooperation including investments.
"Amb @AdarshSwaika1 called on the new Minister of Commerce and Industry of Kuwait H.E Abdullah Hamad AlJouan. Ambassador highlighted the growing bilateral trade ties and significant potential for strengthening bilateral economic cooperation, including investments," Indian embassy in Kuwait posted on X.
Earlier, the Indian ambassador to Kuwait said that bilateral trade between India and Kuwait has touched an all-time high of USD 12.5 billion.
Trade between the two countries has seen a 90 per cent yearly jump and while currently it is skewed towards hydrocarbon exports from Kuwait and exports of mainly food products from India. The bilateral trade has the potential for diversification, the envoy said.
India and Kuwait share historically warm and close bilateral ties and the relationship has been nourished by sustained cultural and civilizational linkages. There are around one million Indians in Kuwait.
India is amongst the largest trading partners of Kuwait and the Gulf country is a major supplier of oil.
India and Kuwait enjoy traditionally friendly relations, rooted in history, and have stood the test of time. Geographic proximity, historical trade links, cultural affinities, and presence of large number of Indian nationals in Kuwait continue to sustain and nurture this long standing relationship. India has been a natural trading partner of Kuwait and until 1961 Indian Rupee was the legal tender in Kuwait, according to the MEA official website.
Historically, Indo-Kuwaiti relations have always had an important trade dimension. India has consistently been among the top ten trading partners of Kuwait. Total bilateral trade with Kuwait during 2015-16 was USD 6.2 billion. While India's imports from Kuwait were USD 4.96 billion (POL accounted for USD 4.05 billion) which plummeted by 63 per cent, largely due to drop in oil prices coupled with cut down in volume of oil import from Kuwait.
India's exports to Kuwait grew by 4 per cent (USD 1.24 billion) in 2015-16 vis-a-vis 2014-15. India's exports to Kuwait included food items, cereals, textiles, garments, electrical and engineering equipment, machinery and mechanical appliances, cars, trucks, buses, tyres, chemicals, jewellery, handicrafts, metal products, iron and steel, etc.
