Kuwait and Pakistan to boost economic ties
Discussions on enhancing relationship between the two countries held
Kuwait City: On Thursday, the Foreign Minister of Kuwait, Dr. Ahmed Al Sabah, travelled to Islamabad to meet with Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Mahmood Qureshi, to discuss ways to boost relations between the two countries.
The two Foreign Ministers discussed during their meeting, according to Pakistan’s foreign office, “the entire gamut of bilateral relations, including cooperation in political, economic, defence, trade and investment sectors, and manpower export, and discussed ways to enhance people-to-people linkages between the two countries.”
Since 1960, Kuwait has invested vastly in Pakistan and collaborated with many companies in different industries.
Most recently, in 2019 the Kuwait Investment Authority (KIA) announced that they designed a three billion Kuwaiti dinars investment program for Pakistan. Dr. Ahmed Idress, KIA representative, explained that part of the investment project was to set up a 500-megawatt power plant in Pakistan.
During their meeting, Quraeshi mentioned to Dr. Ahmed the economic potential of investing in the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a project that aims to connect the Chinese province of Xinjiang to the Pakistani port of Gwadar in the Balochistan province via pipelines, roads and railways.
While investment in infrastructure is a part of the trade agreement between both countries, oil imports make up 80 per cent of the total bilateral imports, according to the Pakistani paper the Tribune.
Human capital
As part of the two countries’ friendly and long-standing bilateral relations, Pakistan has encouraged its nationals to travel to Kuwait to bolster the country’s economy.
Qureshi stated that there are more than 100,000 Pakistanis residing in Kuwait and are working toward developing the country in various sectors.
As of 2019, there are around 116,000 Pakistanis residing in Kuwait, making up 0.03 per cent of the overall three million expat population. While 95 per cent of Pakistani foreign workers reside in the GCC, only 0.5 per cent of them live in Kuwait.
Dr. Ahmed said that he appreciates Pakistan’s continued support during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Back in December, Pakistan sent 196 medical professionals to Kuwait to help combat the COVID-19 virus. Their arrival took place after Kuwait and Pakistan signed a bilateral cooperation Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in July that would enhance the cooperation between the two countries in combating the virus.
The first batch of Pakistani medical professionals, around 208, arrived in Kuwait in October after the MoU was signed.