Times of India

Kuwait / New Delhi, Jun 8: The Amir of Kuwait Shaikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah will pay a six-day visit to New Delhi from June 14 during which the two countries are expected to sign some bilateral cooperation agreements.

The Amir will hold talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on issues of bilateral interest as well as regional and international situation.

Accompanied by a high-level delegation including sizeable Kuwaiti business delegation, Shaikh Al-Sabah is undertaking the visit at the invitation of President A P J Abdul Kalam.

India and Kuwait have close, friendly, deep-rooted and multi-faceted ties.

The volume of bilateral trade, excluding oil trade, was almost US $700 billion in 2004-05. Kuwait provided about 11 million tons of crude oil and 1.25 million tons of oil products in 2005 to India worth around US $4.5 billion.

Over five lac Indians live and work in Kuwait besides which several Indian public and private sector companies are having operations in the Gulf country.

Government of India looks forward to the visit of Amir, External Affairs Ministry said on Wednesday. The visit would substantially strengthen bilateral ties and raise these to a new height, it said.