India’s decision to upgrade its relations with Kuwait to a strategic partnership is a big move. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the West Asian country, the first by an Indian premier in more than four decades, was timely and signals its importance in the extended neighbourhood. After all, Kuwait is home to one million Indians, one of the largest concentrations of citizens in the region, and the sixth- largest crude supplier to India. The presence of huge Indian working population makes Kuwait a very important partner for India. Also, in the wake of new dynamics emerging in the Middle East with new leadership in Syria following the ouster of long-time dictator Bashar al-Assad from power, India will have to make efforts to make more friends in the Arab world. Kuwait is also the current chair of the Gulf Cooperation Council, with which India is negotiating a free trade deal. As one of India’s primary sources of oil and home to more than nine million Indians, West Asia is central to India’s foreign policy concerns.
India’s outreach to West Asian powers has coincided with a shift by those countries from their longstanding proximity to Pakistan because of an understanding of the greater benefits of strategic and economic ties with New Delhi. This outreach comprises both bilateral deals with key countries such as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, and multilateral engagements such as the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor. New Delhi has managed to build these ties without upsetting any of the major faultlines that shape relations among various countries in West Asia.