The visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Kuwait from December 21-22 has been considered a major political breakthrough in bilateral relations. It was first visit to this oil-rich country by an Indian prime minster in 43 years. In a significant highlight of this visit, bilateral ties have been elevated to a “strategic partnership.”
India-Kuwait bilateral cooperation has for years been concentrated in three important domains: crude oil trade, remittances from Kuwait to India, and economic engagements. Bilateral trade touched $10.75 billion during 2023-24. Kuwait is the sixth largest crude oil importer and the fourth largest petroleum gas provider to India; it accounts for 3.5 percent of India’s total energy requirements. These statistics underscore the pivotal role Kuwait continues to play in India’s economic and energy security calculus.
Modi’s visit reflected the current Indian government’s politico-diplomatic focus on the Gulf region, particularly since mid-2014. This visit, indeed, marked a pivotal point in New Delhi’s regional outreach efforts. The strategic foreign policy overtures made by India are in alignment with the ongoing geopolitical recalibration that is taking place within most of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, which are increasingly shifting their focus toward establishing robust partnerships with Asian economies, including India.
The growing political ties with Kuwait exemplify the evolving paradigm of strengthened India-Gulf relations, which have begun to move beyond the oil trade to make relations more comprehensive. The timing of this diplomatic initiative also merits scholarly attention, as GCC states, Kuwait among them, are pursuing a strategic expansion of their global partnerships beyond their traditional Western alliances. For India, such strategic reorientations provide important opportunities to enhance its geopolitical influence in the Gulf region while enhancing its economic and security interests, simultaneously.
In a significant development, India and Kuwait signed a key agreement during Kuwaiti Foreign Minister Abdullah Ali Al Yahya’s New Delhi visit from December 3-4. A Joint Commission for Cooperation has been created at the foreign minister level, to set up a framework to monitor, guide, and strengthen ties across key sectors, such as oil and gas, healthcare, and consular matters. Significantly, few important agreements in areas like defense, renewable energy, healthcare, educational cooperation, and food security were signed during Modi’s recent visit.
Defense Cooperation: A New Frontier
Over the years, the trajectory of India’s ties with the GCC states has undergone a significant alteration, which has been evidenced by increasing military-security partnerships, particularly with Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Oman. This is a noteworthy departure from the traditional paradigm of bilateral relations, which mostly centered on the oil and gas trade and commercial interactions.
In light of this, the defense Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) that was inked during Modi’s visit to Kuwait represents a pivotal advancement with the potential to take the ties to a new level. This MoU has provisions for training and personnel exchange programs between the two countries, which will facilitate knowledge-sharing mechanisms as well as enhance operational synergy between the armed forces of both nations.
The defense MoU has come at this juncture when the Indian government is searching for external partners to collaborate on manufacturing military equipment. The new framework, therefore, provides comprehensive mechanisms for joint production ventures and technological knowledge transfers, potentially augmenting India’s expanding defense manufacturing capabilities while simultaneously advancing Kuwait’s military modernization objectives.
Further, the MoU would also allow Kuwait to buy defense items manufactured by Indian firms, which is crucial to support the current Indian government’s goal of exporting more military products abroad while assisting Kuwait in upgrading its forces’ capabilities. Furthermore, joint collaborations on research and development, which are also included in the MoU, will help both sides build better defense technology, thereby enhancing the strategic preparedness for future challenges.
Renewable Energy Cooperation
Notwithstanding the salience of their hydrocarbon trade, India and Kuwait have agreed to expand their cooperative framework to encompass renewable energy initiatives. This is an important decision that reflects a broader regional trend, where India and the GCC countries have collectively exhibited strong interest in fostering sustainable energy solutions.
Like most GCC countries, Kuwait also aims to move away from oil dependency, and its Vision 2035 promotes development of “non-oil economic sectors, sustainable diversified economy, [and] sustainable living environment.” Kuwait, as a result, is making efforts to generate 15 percent of its power from renewable sources by 2030, coupled with its commitment to achieve carbon neutrality by 2060.
This is aligned with India’s own clean energy goals of producing 500 GW from non-fossil sources by 2030. India’s commitment for the consumption of solar power has been demonstrated by the creation of International Solar Alliance (ISA) under its leadership, and Kuwait’s recent accession to this multilateral initiative will likely pave new ways for both countries to collaborate.
What could also create opportunities for joint sustainable projects are India’s expertise in renewable energy combined with Kuwait’s financial clout and its favorable geographical attributes. For effective engagement, it is important to have a bilateral framework that will enable both countries to share technology and knowledge, with twin objectives of accelerating Kuwait’s clean energy transition initiatives while also creating opportunities for Indian enterprises to grow in the region.
Health Diplomacy: Connecting People
The global health crisis of COVID-19 showed the need and importance of establishing robust health partnerships between India and its international partners, including GCC members. Underscoring the pivotal role of health diplomacy, India and Kuwait are scaling up their health and pharmaceutical cooperation.
During the heights of the pandemic crisis, Kuwait stepped up its assistance to India by sending critical humanitarian aid, particularly liquid oxygen supplies, and Indian healthcare professionals traveled to this Gulf state to help fight the health menace. This showcased the resilience of bilateral ties in dire circumstances. Currently, several Indian healthcare practitioners, including physicians, nurses, and allied professionals, have become an integral part of Kuwait’s medical and health-related infrastructure, creating a fertile ground for expanded cooperation in this field.
In the Gulf region, Kuwait is known to have one of the most advanced medical and healthcare sectors, from training doctors to sharing new medical technologies. This trait of the country creates opportunities for Indian medical professionals to contribute their expertise in this sector. With attention being given by the respective governments, there are prospects for establishing collaboration in a wide range of health applications, including specialized medical education, academic partnerships, and technological cooperation in healthcare delivery. The presence of Indian medical professionals in Kuwait also functions as a pivotal conduit for bilateral knowledge exchange and cross-cultural understanding.
Educational Cooperation: A Potential Domain
A relatively newer domain that could emerge as an important pillar of cooperation between India and Kuwait is education. Lately, there has been a steady proliferation of Indian institutions setting up international campuses. This is a timely move from the Indian side catering to the increasing demand for quality higher education in the Gulf region. The current Indian government is taking advantage of the emerging opportunities and prioritizes expanding its educational footprint in the wider West Asia, let alone the Gulf region. Mentions could be made of the campuses opened by Indian universities such as Symbiosis International University (inaugurated in November 2024), Amity University, Manipal University, and BITS Pilani in Dubai.
Tellingly, India’s National Education Policy 2020, with its focus on building international connections, aligns with the objectives of Kuwait’s Vision 2035 for developing human capital and economic diversification. This has raised prospects for further collaborations, especially to set up Indian colleges and universities in Kuwait, with priorities accorded to disciplines ranging from engineering, medicine, management, to information technology and so on. Bilateral partnerships in this areas could also increase the prospects for joint research initiatives in areas of mutual interests, including renewable energy, artificial intelligence, healthcare, and desert ecology. These initiatives will likely coalesce India’s technological expertise with that of Kuwait’s modern research facilities.
Food Security Cooperation
Kuwait, the current GCC chair, looks forward to strengthening food security cooperation with India, particularly considering the latter’s advancement in the agricultural sector. Given its limited agricultural output due to climatic conditions, Kuwait depends on imports, which provide nearly 95 percent of its food requirements.
Both countries, therefore, are looking at investing in infrastructure such as food parks in India for Kuwait’s needs. In the upcoming period, there could be joint ventures in smart farming methods and desert farming technologies. Another area of emphasis could be developing climate-resilient crops and modern processing facilities. Such a partnership in modern farming and environmental management will align Kuwait’s need for food independence with that of India’s advanced farming systems and methods.
Conclusion
The India-Kuwait partnership exhibits significant growth potential, though certain challenges (including regional affairs) warrant attention. The visit of the Indian prime minister, indeed, opened opportunities for further cooperation in multifaceted domains, and not only restricted to the aforementioned spheres.
However, the ongoing geopolitical tensions in West Asia, along with Kuwait’s domestic political complexities, could be constraining factors. Moreover, Kuwait’s reliance on the hydrocarbon trade for revenue generation could make it harder to opt for alternative areas of cooperation, while this GCC country will be forthcoming in strengthening partnerships in other sectors. India’s strategic approach, therefore, must emphasize renewable energy cooperation as a pathway for Kuwait’s economic diversification while maintaining its position as a pivotal energy stakeholder in global markets. Further, any unforeseen changes to Kuwait’s labor laws, migration policies, or work visa rules could affect the sizable Indian workforce in Kuwait.
To tackle through these challenges, both sides requires strengthening bilateral institutional mechanisms through sustained high-level dialogue and leveraging multilateral frameworks like ISA, the India–Middle East–Europe Economic Corridor, and I2U2, a partnership between India, Israel, the UAE, and the United States. Lastly, the renewed diplomatic engagement, marked by Modi’s visit, signals a deepening of Indo-Kuwaiti strategic cooperation and reflects the convergence of both nations’ geopolitical and economic priorities.