Both the countries agreed to expand their cooperation in key areas, including energy and investment and also security.

“Kuwait is the fourth largest supplier of crude oil to India. His Highness Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber and I discussed the development of a more strategic partnership in the energy sector between our two countries. This can be done through long-term supply contracts on mutually beneficial terms and the establishment of upstream and downstream joint ventures in the petroleum and petrochemical sectors. India has proposed several specific projects for investments by the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation. I am encouraged by His Highness Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber’s response and I am hopeful that we can translate some of these proposals into concrete symbols of cooperation very soon,” said the Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh after the conclusion of delegation level talks with the visiting Kuwaiti Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah here on Friday.

The Kuwaiti Prime Minister said : “I am satisfied with the bilateral level talks.”

He also addressed a business summit jointly organized by the three apex Indian industry bodies – FICCI, CII and Assocham earlier in the day.

Regarding the proposal for attracting Kuwaiti investments in India, Dr Singh said : “I also conveyed to His Highness the Prime Minister that India offers attractive investment opportunities for Kuwait in the infrastructure sector. Our two sides will undertake discussions on specific proposals and appropriate investment vehicles for channelizing Kuwaiti investments in India. A delegation of the Kuwait Investment Authority is expected to make an early visit to India in this context.”

Indian companies have also shown interests in investing in Kuwait. “I shared with His Highness Sheikh Jaber the strong interest of Indian companies to participate in infrastructure projects under Kuwait’s Development Plan. Indian companies have considerable experience of working in Kuwait. His Highness has assured me that Indian companies are welcome in Kuwait and that they will continue to enjoy fair and equal opportunities there,” the Indian Prime Minister said.

There are 750,000 Indian expatriates working in Kuwait. The India has appealed to Kuwait to ensure their safety and security.

“Given that many of them are unskilled or semi-skilled workers, I requested His Highness the Prime Minister for the continued support of the Kuwaiti leadership to ensure that the full protection of Kuwaiti laws and labour welfare measures is available to them,” Dr Singh said.

Both the leaders discussed the situation in West Asia and the Gulf region and sought peaceful resolution of the Syrian crisis. They also sought to firm up their security cooperation.

“Security cooperation has added a new dimension to our relationship and I expressed appreciation for Kuwait’s cooperation in this area. We agreed that countering radicalism and extremism is a common challenge. We also agreed to strengthen our cooperation in the area of counter-terrorism through institutionalized dialogue and training,” Dr Singh said.

India and Kuwait also signed two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) for cooperation between Foreign Service Institute of India (FSI) and the Saud N. Al-Sabah Kuwait Diplomatic Institute(KDI) and for cooperation in the field of sports and youth affairs between the two countries.

One agreements was signed between the two countries for the period 2013-16 for cultural and information exchange and a similar agreement was also signed for educational exchange programme for the same period.