PM Modi bats for ‘shared goals, shared prosperity’ vision in Kuwait

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said India and Kuwait shared civilisational ties and will become major future partners in prosperity.

Advertisement

Addressing an Indian community event in the Gulf nation where he arrived on a two-day visit at the invitation of Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Meshal Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Modi said the two nations had a shared goal — of building a new Kuwait and a new India.

“India has the skills, manpower and technology needed to build a new Kuwait. Fintech to healthcare — Indians can offer cutting-edge solutions to Kuwait. Skilled Indian youth can offer new strength to Kuwait’s future growth,” Modi said, adding that India had the capacity to be the skill capital of the world.

Starting his address to the vibrant diaspora (30 per cent of private and 4.5 per cent of government workforce in Kuwait are Indians) with ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ salutations, Modi said it took Indians four hours to reach Kuwait “but it took an Indian PM 43 years to reach Kuwait”.

The last Indian PM to visit Kuwait was Indira Gandhi in 1981.

Modi’s community event was scheduled after he met Indian workers at the Gulf Spic Labour Camp in Kuwait. The visit was significant in the light of the June 2024 fire at a residential building in Kuwait’s Mangaf that killed over 40 Indians.

At his diaspora event, Modi recalled the Mangaf fire and thanked the Kuwaiti leadership for support at the time.

“Only a brother could have done that,” he said, recalling how Gujarat’s Surat was the international market for Kuwaiti pearls since the 19th century.

Meets centenarian ex-IFS officer

After a request from his family on social media, PM Modi, upon arrival in Kuwait, met 101-year-old former IFS officer Mangal Sain Handa and admired his contribution to India and passion for India’s development.

Today, Kuwait is among India’s leading trading partners with bilateral trade valued at $10.47 billion in 2023-24 and is the sixth largest supplier of crude, meeting India’s 3 per cent energy needs.

Modi spoke of how the Crown Prince of Kuwait personally intervened to send liquid oxygen when India was in need during the Covid-19 crisis and India sent vaccines and medical teams to help Kuwait tide over.

“Kuwait and India have stood by each other in sun and shade,” he said.

A bilateral investment treaty is also in the works, the MEA has said, with the visit expected to bolster India’s ties with the Gulf Cooperation Council, which Kuwait is chairing.

Modi said, “We deeply value our historical connection with Kuwait that has been nurtured over generations. We are not just strong trade and energy partners, but have also shared interest in peace, security, stability and prosperity in the West Asia region.”

At the community event in Kuwait, Modi gave a message to the diaspora that India’s journey towards the Viksit Bharat goal was incomplete without them. He invited them to India, citing three upcoming events — Pravasi Bharatiya Diwas in Bhubaneshwar (January 8 to 10), Maha Kumbh in Prayagraj from January 13 to February 26 and the Republic Day on January 26.