Kuwait's PM to pay four-day visit to India from Nov 7

In the first visit by a Kuwaiti head of the government in a decade, Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah will arrive here on November 7 and hold talks during which India will seek to enhance ties in diverse sectors like energy security, trade and investment with the oil-rich nation.
Sheikh Jaber, who will be accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising ministers, senior officials and captains of industry, will hold talks with the top leadership including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during his four-day stay.
Finance Minister P Chidambaram, External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid and Commerce Minister Anand Sharma will call on the Kuwaiti leader.

It will be the first head of government-level visit from Kuwait to India since the post of Crown Prince and Prime Minister was bifurcated in the Gulf nation in 2003. The last high-level visit to Kuwait from India was in 1981 when the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had gone there.
The two countries have major trading ties with Kuwait being India's fourth largest crude oil supplier globally. The bilateral trade volume was over USD 17 billion in 2012-13.
Sheikh Jaber will also attend a business luncheon meeting jointly organised by the three chambers--FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM.

Officials said both countries will explore enhancing cooperation in energy and other sectors through mutually beneficial investments in oil exploration, refineries, petrochemical complexes and fertiliser plants.

During the visit of a Kuwaiti Minister here in March, India had offered that country a stake in state-owned ONGC's Rs 21,396-crore petrochemical plant at Dahej in Gujarat and in IOC's proposed chemical unit at Paradip.
Indians form the largest expatriate community in Kuwait and their contribution in the progress and development of the Gulf nation is well recognised. There are over seven lakh Indians working in Kuwait at present.
India and Kuwait historically share friendly relations based on close people-to-people contacts.
Geographic proximity, historical trade links, cultural affinities and growing cooperation in key areas of mutual interest like energy security, trade and investment, petrochemicals and education continue to strengthen the relationship between the two nations.

Sheikh Jaber and his delegation would also be visiting Agra.