
Kuwait participated in the first diplomatic event of its kind between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council "Kochi Dialogue 2025" to cement relations between India and the GCC countries. The Kochi dialogue with the theme “India’s Look West Policy in Action: People, Prosperity and Progress,” was hosted on Jan. 16-17 by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs and the Centre for Public Policy Research think tank in Kochi, Kerala.
GCC Secretary-General Jasem Mohamed Al-Budaiwi, who was one of the forum’s key speakers, highlighted the significance of India relations for the Gulf bloc and plans to move cooperation forward, including by engaging in long-awaited free trade agreement talks.
“Expanding free trade negotiations will pave the way for economic integration, removing trade barriers, expanding cooperation in digital economies, and transforming industries. I also hope that we hold our first round of FTA negotiation this year, 2025,” Al-Budaiwi told Kochi Dialogue participants.
The event brought together government officials and business leaders from India, as well as delegates from the GCC countries — Oman, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE — along with diplomats from Australia, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka.

CA Aditya Vikram Dhanuka, the Chairperson of the ICAI Kuwait Chapter also participated as one of the speaker at the forum during the session 'India & the GCC: Opportunities and Challenges in Enhancing Trade, Economy & Investments' moderated by Ambassador TP Seetharam with expert panellists including Atul Puri, Ahlam Yusuf Janahi, Dr Ranjeet Mehta and Mr Ajay Thampy. The session focused on collaborative efforts and cooperation in trade and investment between the GCC countries and India.
CA Aditya Dhanuka from Kuwait highlighted that the Accounting Standards needs to be standards between India to IFRS standards leading to easier decision making for stakeholder while analyzing financial statements across bilateral trades and creating more job opportunities especially for Indian Chartered Accountants and accounting professionals in Kuwait.
He also spoke upon the PM, Modi ji's recent visit to Kuwait and its positive impact on the sentiment on Indian Diaspora.
PM's visit reaffirmed the commitment to further strengthen bilateral relations between India & Kuwait through comprehensive and structured cooperation in key areas, including political, trade, investment, defence, security, energy, culture, education, technology and people-to-people ties.

Kuwait Ambassador to India Shri Meshal Mustafa Alshemali said that the Dialogue would help both sides to enhance cooperation in several areas of mutual interest including energy, trade and investment, defense, security , healthcare and food and cyber security.