India-Kuwait: Modernising the agenda for ancient ties

Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi's visit to Kuwait from December 21-22, coming 43 years after the last such visit by an Indian PM, marks a major milestone for ties and is set to reinvigorate the deep-rooted friendship between our two countries.

- Ajai Malhotra

India-Kuwait linkages go back to ancient times, with recent excavations showing that connections between the Indian west coast and the Kuwait region pre-date the Indus Valley and Mesopotamian civilisations. Kuwait's strategic position made it a natural trading hub linking India, Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. Guided by monsoon winds, Kuwaiti dhows navigated the Indian coastline from Gujarat to Kerala, fostering robust commercial ties and interaction with local communities.

India was a major market for Kuwaiti pearls, Arabian horses, and Basra dates, which were traded for our spices, textiles and food products. The emergence of Mikimoto cultured pearls in the 1920s and the Great Depression of 1929 disrupted the natural pearls market while surging oil revenues following the discovery of oil in Kuwait in the 1930s delivered a deadly blow to it.

Reflective of our close commercial ties, the Indian rupee was the official currency in Kuwait till its independence in 1961.

Kuwait has, for many decades, been a major crude oil supplier to India, meeting about 3% of our current energy needs, while Indian companies have provided valuable expertise and services to Kuwait's oil and gas sector.

Nonetheless, our cooperation deserves to go beyond a purely crude oil trading buyer-seller relationship to encompass wider interaction in oil and gas. Indian companies like L&T and Kalpataru Power have been active in securing and successfully completing major energy-related construction contracts in Kuwait.