What happened?
India and Kuwait held the seventh round of Foreign Office Consultations in New Delhi on August 26th, 2025, focusing on their bilateral relations and exploring ways to expand cooperation across political, trade, defence, investment, energy, cultural, and people-to-people domains. The talks were co-chaired by MEA Additional Secretary (Gulf) Aseem R Mahajan and Kuwait’s Assistant Foreign Minister for Asia Affairs, Sameeh Essa Johar Hayat. Both sides also discussed regional and international issues of common interest, agreed to reconvene Joint Working Groups under the Joint Commission for Cooperation, and advance the roadmap laid out during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Kuwait in December 2024.
Why it matters to India
With bilateral trade touching $10.2 billion and over a million Indians living in Kuwait, the Gulf nation is a key partner in India’s energy security and diaspora ties. Strengthening defence and strategic cooperation adds another layer of stability to ties, while the decision to fast-track working group meetings signals intent to translate high-level political understanding into concrete outcomes. The next round of consultations will be hosted in Kuwait.