Making friends in the Gulf region

Upgrading ties with Kuwait is sound policy given the extended neighbourhood holds strategic and economic importance for India

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India's decision to upgrade its relations with Kuwait to a strategic partnership and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit over the weekend to the West Asian country, the first by an Indian premier in more than four decades, were timely signals of its importance in the extended neighbourhood. After all, Kuwait is home to one million Indians, one of the largest concentrations of citizens in the region, and the sixth-largest crude supplier to India. Kuwait is also the current chair of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with which India is negotiating a free trade deal. As one of India's primary sources of oil and home to more than nine million Indians, West Asia is central to India's foreign policy concerns.