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More thank 60,000 students studying in Indian Schools in the country
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Bilateral Trade touches a record $13.8 billion in 2022
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Not aware of any Kuwaiti application to join BRICS
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No hurdles of recruitment of Indian manpower
Family visa restrictions are negatively affecting many Indians residing in Kuwait and we hope the authorities in Kuwait will lift the ban early, Indian Ambassador to Kuwait H E Adarsh Swaika said in a recent interview with Arabic daily Al Rai.
Commenting on the role of Indian human capital in Kuwait he said it was one of the main strengths of their bilateral relations, the contribution of the large Indian community to the Kuwaiti economy is widely recognized. “You will find Indians working in all sectors of the Kuwaiti economy, be it executives, engineers, doctors, nurses, domestic workers, drivers, etc. “
Regarding the recruitment of manpower from India in Kuwait, Ambassador Swaika stated that at present there were no hurdles in this respect. He explained that the two countries signed a bilateral memorandum of understanding on domestic workers in June 2021 to protect the rights and activate the legal obligations of both the employer and the employee. “By proper implementation of this memorandum by both sides, including the employer and the employee, solutions to most work-related problems can be provided,” said the Indian envoy.
Elaborating he said India and Kuwait share a cherished relationship that only grows stronger with each passing year. Reiterating the strong bilateral relations between India and Kuwait, the ambassador noted, “India-Kuwait relations are historical and have been tested by time. We celebrated 60 years of our diplomatic relations in 2021. Relationships have grown stronger over the years and have become increasingly multifaceted.
“After the gap caused by COVID-19 in bilateral meetings, there has been a recovery in bilateral discussions this year with the aim of driving the relationship forward. After a break of more than four years, consultations between foreign ministers of our two countries were held in New Delhi in the first week of May. Our relations are also deepening in the multilateral context, with Kuwait’s entry as a dialogue partner in the region. Relations between India and the GCC, of which Kuwait is a key member, are also on an ascending path. We need to work together to deepen it, especially in sectors of mutual interest.”
Turning to the emerging sectors of economic cooperation and the volume of trade between the two countries, Ambassador Swaika said, “Last year, bilateral trade reached a record $13.8 billion, mostly focused on oil and food, but we are seeing encouraging signs of diversification, whether it is exports of cars or machinery from India, textiles, precious stones, jewelry, etc. Additionally, the health and pharmaceutical sector as well as information technology are prominent between the two countries due to India’s expertise in these areas. Cooperation in biofuels and renewable energy is another emerging sector of mutual interest.
“Indian companies have implemented high-quality projects in Kuwait, be it in the road sector, oil and gas sector, electricity transmission, soil treatment, etc. Indian companies, many of which are multinationals, see opportunities in upcoming projects in Kuwait as part of the new government program, and we are seeing greater interest from Kuwaiti companies to invest in India, including investments already made in our country’s steel and hospitality sectors.”
On the defense and security front, the Indian ambassador stressed, “Bilateral cooperation in the field of defense and security between India and Kuwait is clearly growing, and we can see this in the increasing maritime relations that are evident in recent visits by Indian naval vessels to Kuwait to conduct transformation operations and traffic exercises. Docked in Shuwaikh port recently, the INS Visakhapatnam is one of India’s newest locally built warships that demonstrated the power of the ‘Made in India’ slogan in the defense sector. In addition, Indian Army officers regularly attend staff courses at the Mubarak Al-Abdullah Joint Command and Staff College in Kuwait. Similarly, Kuwaiti military officers attended various courses at Indian military institutions.
“The Embassy also organized a seminar on the defense industry in Kuwait in May this year, in which 10 Indian companies from the defense sector participated with the good participation of the Kuwaiti Ministry of Defense. With India’s military power, including defense exports to friendly countries, increasing by about $2 billion in the last fiscal year, I would like to say that the field of defense cooperation offers enormous potential for bilateral partnership, and on the security front, there is an active exchange between our respective agencies.”
The Indian envoy also expanded on the cultural, academic and sports cooperation between the two countries. “India and culture are synonymous; this is one of the reasons for the great affinity between our two countries. Not only is Indian culture widely appreciated in Kuwait, but there are a lot of similarities as well. There is a lot of cultural interaction happening on its own because of the strong ties between our peoples, and both countries are also doing their best to promote it on the people-to-people level and through government interventions as well.
“Currently we have an effective cultural exchange program under which different types of cultural activities are carried out. Cultural groups come from India to Kuwait from time to time. One such occasion was the India Festival in March this year, and we look forward to the participation of Kuwaiti cultural and artistic groups in our international festivals in India during October and November this year.
“In terms of student exchange, there is active cooperation at the school level, there are 26 schools in Kuwait that follow the Indian CBSE curriculum, and have more than 60,000 students. Moreover, the Kuwait College of Science and Technology is managed in consultation with the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Delhi.
“Sport is another area where we see signs of emerging cooperation. India and Kuwait faced off in the South Asian Football Confederation finals in July, and Kuwaitis are increasingly interested in cricket, and I was surprised to see how many people came to watch the 2023 Cricket World Cup presentation when they traveled to Kuwait last month. We must explore further cooperation in such areas.”
Turning to recent developments in India’s multilateral engagements that are of interest to the two countries, Ambassador Swaika pointed out that the BRICS, which is an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is a gathering of five emerging economies from different continents. South Africa, which holds the current presidency of BRICS, chaired the fifteenth anniversary summit last month.
He added that BRICS is a gathering that embraces the aspirations of emerging economies and has led to positive results in many areas of cooperation. An example is the New Development Bank, which plays an important role in the development of countries of the Global South, and serves as a financial safety net, through its emergency reserve arrangement, for many countries.
The Indian envoy noted that other initiatives such as the BRICS satellite constellation, the Center for Vaccine Research and Development, and the mutual recognition of pharmaceutical products, is bringing positive changes to the lives of ordinary citizens in the BRICS countries, as well as worldwide. He also highlighted that during the recent BRICS summit, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi proposed new areas of cooperation between the five countries in the fields of space, education, technology and skills.
Ambassador Swaika added, “The highlight of this year’s summit was the decision to accept six new members to the BRICS family — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and Argentina. India has always fully supported the expansion of the BRICS membership, and our country has always believed that bringing in new members will strengthen the BRICS as an organization and provide new impetus to our collective endeavors. Such a move would further strengthen the trust of many countries in a multipolar world order. Although many countries have expressed interest in joining the BRICS, I am not aware of Kuwait’s application to join the BRICS.”
Ambassador Swaika then elaborated on the G20 Summit that is being held this week in New Delhi, and on India’s year of G20 presidency in 2022-23. He affirmed that his country, which is hosting the G20 summit on 9 and 10 September in New Delhi, has always upheld a global vision of ‘One Land, One Family, One Future”, in line with the ancient Indian philosophy of ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’, or the ‘World is one Family’, which is the theme of G20 agenda under India’s presidency. In line with this global perspective, India is keen to integrate the priorities of the Global South into the G20 agenda.
“India’s vision for its G20 chairmanship is ambitious, decisive, inclusive and democratic, and apart from the current G20 countries, India has invited a number of developing countries from its immediate neighborhood and beyond to participate in the Summit. Inclusiveness was achieved not only in terms of participation in the Summit, but more importantly in terms of mainstreaming the priorities of the Global South into the G20 agenda. In this context, India organized the Global Voice of the South Summit in January this year with the participation of 125 countries to understand their priorities that can be reflected in the G20 agenda. India also suggested that the African Union should be invited as a new member to the G20 grouping.
“India has also ensured that the G20 does not remain within the confines of formal meetings, but that its essence passes to the common man. Our country has tried to make the G20 gathering, a ‘People’s G20’ — with more than 60 cities in all 28 states and eight union territories hosting G20 related events and meetings with participation of international delegations.”
Away from multilateral engagements, the ambassador turned to cooperation with Kuwait in the realm of space explorations. “Our space sector has made tremendous gains over the years and has shown that these technologies and capabilities are not exclusive to a few countries. Over the past few years, India has launched 381 foreign satellites for 34 countries, Kuwait also successfully launched the KuwaitSat-1 satellite earlier this year, a delegation from the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research had visited ISRO’s facilities in Bengaluru in 2019, and there is also a memorandum of understanding between ISRO And KISR on bilateral cooperation in the fields of exploration of outer space for peaceful purposes, and I feel that the space sector is a promising area of cooperation between our two countries.”
He pointed out that the successful Indian lunar mission Chandrayaan-3 and the solar mission Aditya L1 carried out by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) last month have not only made India proud, but the entire global community proud, and we deeply appreciate the congratulatory messages from the entire Kuwaiti leadership on the success of these projects.”