External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar addressed the Indian community in Kuwait on a virtual meeting organized by the Embassy of India. Dr S Jaishankar was in Kuwait for a two-day official visit.

Ambassador Sri Sibi George welcomed the minister to the meeting, which was live-casted on all Embassy social media pages.

Minister briefed the community on various discussions he held with the Kuwaiti authorities. "The discussions were focused more on to find new areas of cooperation keeping in mind the immediate impact of Covid as well as the longer term," Minister said.

Minister addressed various issues faced by the Community including the travel restrictions and resumption of flights between the two countries. In his meeting with the Ambassadors of GCC countries, Minister instructed all ambassadors to ensure that issues such as the distractions in families due to the suspension of flight service, those who cannot retain their jobs due to flight suspension, etc. need to be addressed.

"The current situation also opened up new opportunities of increased export to this region," Minister said.

The long pending MoU on domestic workers were finalized during the visit, which in many ways streamlined and strengthen the position of our Indian domestic workers in Kuwait, Minister said.

Minister also briefed about what is happening back home in India. The second wave of Covid started to recede. The number of infection is very less compared to that in early May. A large part of that was made possible by the vigorous response and effort and energy people put on. We ran 100s of oxygen trains from production centers to various cities, planes were mobilized, we procured medicines, many of them are from abroad and ensured domestic production.

Minister shared the economic picture. We saw a strong recovery of our economy during the first wave. The impact of second wave is far less than that of the first phase. The growth will continue, Minister said.

During his address, Minister appreciated the effort of Kuwait government during this hard time. "We very much recognize what the Indian community also did. I know many of you ran to acquire medical oxygen cylinders, I thank all of you for the same," Minister said.

Indian community in many ways define India abroad. The contribution you make, the respect you make abroad, is really what makes India's interaction with world rather unique. It is something which the Prime Minister and all of us appreciate deeply, Minister concluded.