Q. The year 2021 marks the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Kuwait, how is the mission planning to celebrate this grand event?
Ans- The year 2021-22 marks the 60th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Kuwait. This is a major milestone in the relations between our two countries. We look forward to regular exchange of high level political and official visits and deeper engagement between the two sides in coming months.
This occasion will be celebrated in an appropriate manner by the Embassy. When I say celebrations, I do not just mean festivals, I am talking in a broader manner. We have just upgraded our institutional engagement architecture; I look forward to increased official interactions which will be a celebration of the strength of our institutional engagements. We are creating a new economic chapter with the launch of Aatmanirbhar Bharat Mission and other flagship programmes of Government of India as part of a vision to build a New India. Kuwait is charting its own Vision of New Kuwait, one which has diversification of the economy at its core. I look forward to increased business collaborations, trade events, bilateral visits of high level business delegations from both sides and a whole lot more; this is what I would call celebration of the partnership of the future. And of course, we have centuries of shared civilizational history, so I would like to see celebrations in the domain of culture, art, sports and a plethora of other areas.
Q. The Indo-Kuwait economic and trade relations are based on a sound foundation of mutual goodwill and friendship. What efforts are further being taken to strengthen the bilateral ties between the two countries?
Ans- Our bilateral trade and investment ties form a key, enduring element of the bilateral relationship. These ties continued to remain strong despite the adverse impact of the pandemic and its associated precautionary restrictions implemented by the concerned authorities. During the entire crisis period, India remained a steady and reliable partner for Kuwait maintaining its supply of exports of essential commodities including foodstuffs. However, the current volume of trade and investments between the two countries is way below the true potential of this relationship. To further strengthen our bilateral trade and investments linkages, the Embassy has been organizing various business promotion events under the themes of “Aatmanirbhar Bharat”, “States Facilitation”, and “Invest in India” in hybrid/virtual formats. Our various Outreach Platforms, viz., Indian Business Network (IBN), Indian Professionals Network (IPN), Indian Cultural Network (ICN), Indian Sports Network (ISN) and Indian Readers’ Network (IRN) continue to function smoothly as we work together towards building Brand India in Kuwait and further strengthening India-Kuwait relations across the entire spectrum. We will continue to work with all our trade/business partners from both the sides and offer all the necessary assistance and support to facilitate and encourage increasing engagements and higher volumes of trade and investments.
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