India, Kuwait to set up joint commission to expand overall cooperation

India and Kuwait on Wednesday decided to set up a joint commission for cooperation (JCC) at the foreign ministers' level, which will act as an umbrella mechanism to comprehensively review and monitor the entire gamut of bilateral ties, officials said.

The decision was taken at a meeting between External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and his Kuwaiti counterpart Abudullah Ali Al Yahya, who arrived here on Tuesday as part of his first official visit to India.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said the two ministers reviewed the entire spectrum of India-Kuwait ties in diverse areas, including trade, investment, energy, food security and people-to-people ties.

They also exchanged views on regional and international issues of mutual interest, the ministry said in a statement.

"The two ministers signed an MoU on establishing a joint commission for cooperation (JCC) at the level of foreign ministers," the MEA said.

It said new joint working groups in the areas of trade, investment, education, technology, agriculture, security and culture will be set up under the JCC.

"The JCC mechanism will act as an umbrella institutional mechanism to comprehensively review and monitor the entire gamut of our bilateral relations under the new joint working groups and the existing ones in areas including hydrocarbons, health and consular matters," the MEA said.