Kuwait king accepts invitation to visit India

Dubai, Apr 19: The Kuwaiti Emir has accepted an invitation to visit India during which he would sign several economic pacts inorder to strengthen ties between the two countries, Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahamed said.

Mr Ahamed yesterday called on Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah and held discussions on various bilateral issues announcing that Sheikh Sabah would visit India in mid-June.

''Both sides are also in the process of finalising a series of memoranda of understanding pertaining to issues such as labour, avoidance of double taxation, investments and economic cooperation for ratification during the Amir's visit,'' the Kuwait Times reported Mr Ahamed as saying.

These MOUs are in line with the comprehensive economic cooperation agreement reached between the Gulf Cooperation Council and India at GCC-India conference that was held recently in Muscat, he said.

''Both countries will also work towards identifying more areas of cooperation such as education, power generation, oil and petroleum, infrastructure development, capacity building and free trade,'' he was quoted as saying.

The minister also called on Prime Minister Sheikh Nasser Mohammad Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

The Kuwaiti business delegation would hold interactive sessions with the Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce (FICCI), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and Assocham.

UNI