“Future opportunity is in Asia India is important for Kuwait


Tall, handsome and soft spoken, he greets his visitors with a smile. He is very new to India, but India is not new to him. For so many years he has been in European countries holding different diplomatic portfolios. This is his first posting to India. Mr. Sami Mohammed Al-Sulaiman is the new Ambassador of Kuwait. When THE BLUE MOON Editor, Amit Mittal called on him for an interview, he was barely two weeks in this country, but full of all praise right from the day of presenting his credentials to the President of India.

“Though I am coming to India for the first time, I find it like our family environment here. I appreciate that I arrived on the 22nd September and 24th I could get time to present my credentials to the President of India. That was indeed fast and nice. The Indian Ambassador in Kuwait was very helpful in facilitating my official arrival. Moreover, at the time of presentation of my credentials, the President of India conveyed India’s desire to strengthen relations with Kuwait.”

Indeed the new Ambassador seemed settled in his new posting as he had already been in touch with India through the people in his country, through food and television programs.

“The Indian cuisine is very similar to the Kuwaiti cuisine like Nan, Biryani and Dal. I find no big difference. Back home we have Kuwaiti women who wear Indian saree and also speak the language. Yes, I recall an Indian television channel telecasting special programs during Ramadan. I know of a Kuwaiti family living in India who speak Hindi well. Going by our population which is just one million, we have 200 to 300 Kuwaiti families living in India.”

Indian ties with Kuwait have been healthy and growing.

“India was always considered to be the first commercial destination and in the last century we moved closer to India than other countries. The trade balance between the two countries in 2008 stood at 16 billion USD and this excludes oil imports by India. We are importing furniture, food, software and computer from India and India gets petrochemicals and food stuffs from third parties who utilize Kuwait’s free trade zone facilities.”

Kuwait has been an important supplier of crude to India.

“Of course India is considered important for oil exports by us. It stands at number five among the major importers of Kuwaiti oil. There is a big project of establishing a petroleum refinery in Mumbai. It is still in pipeline. A Kuwaiti Petroleum company operates in Europe and the United States. They have more than 10,000 gas stations in Europe. The company also operates several tankers for oil transportation.”

Time and again leaders of the two countries have been promoting relations at all levels.

“In 2006 Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jaber Al-Sabah visited India and held talks for closer cooperation. Kuwait realizes that Indian economy is booming and we wish to take part in this based on our relationship. In April 2009 the Vice-President of India visited Kuwait.”

Kuwait, in addition to being a free trade zone, offers much more to investors.

“In 1996 Kuwait Parliament adopted a law enabling foreign companies to operate freely in Kuwait. They can establish in Kuwait with a partnership being essential wherein the Kuwait partner must hold 51 per cent shares of the company. There are no currency restrictions either.”

Does Kuwait have hotel managed by Indian hotel chains ?

“There are hotels which are run by Indian management. Hoteliers from India are welcome to invest there. The Amir of Kuwait has ordered a Silk City in the north which will cost 23 billion USD and will have hotels, resorts and all modern amenities. We are building three major modern cities in Kuwait and we want builders from India to come forward.”

Kuwait’s policy towards India and other nations of this region is aimed at increasing cooperation.

“Our foreign policy is more open to Asia. We have several cooperation agreements like avoidance of double taxation with India. We have similar agreements with Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China. We think the future opportunity is in Asia.”

What about recession in these countries?

“India’s economy is solid. Not really badly affected by this recession. China and India are both promising economies.”

There are a lot of Indian workers who migrate to Kuwait for work.

“I think more Indians travel to Kuwait for business. At the same time Indian workers are better qualified and loyal. The environment in Kuwait is suited to Indian workers. There is freedom of religion. We have people believing in 24 different faiths. We respect their religion and belief. We have 6.5 lakh Indians in Kuwait.”

When there are so many people traveling there have to be good air links.

“In addition to Kuwait Airways, Air India, we have Jet Airways and Al Jazeera from Kuwait. There are six to seven flights all seven days of the week to Kuwait from Delhi and Mumbai. There are over 12,500 passengers flying to Kuwait per week.”

Good air connections have led to more movement of people between the two countries.

“In 2008 more than 35000 Kuwait nationals visited India. They prefer coming here as they find the people are friendly here, there are similarities in culture and there is security. Compare this with those traveling to Egypt which has the largest number of 45000.”
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