Kuwaiti prime minister visiting India

Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah is visiting India from Nov 7-9 at the invitation of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it was announced here Thursday.

"This is the first visit of a Head of Government from Kuwait since they bifurcated the Crown Prince from the Head of Government. The last visit of a Head of Government from India to Kuwait was in 1981 when then prime minister Indira Gandhi visited Kuwait. Of course we have had other high-level visits both from India to Kuwait as well as from Kuwait to India," said external affairs ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin.

"Kuwait is amongst our largest suppliers of oil. We source something in the vicinity of 10 to 12 percent of our oil imports from there. The total bilateral trade between Kuwait and India is in the vicinity of US$ 17 billion of which US$ 15 billion is oil. Our exports to Kuwait are in the vicinity of a little above US$ 1 billion," he said

--Indo-asian News Service

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