Kuwait PM holds bilateral talks with India counterpart

His Highness Kuwait's Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah held talks Friday with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh over boosting bilateral relations. "We have discussed bilateral relations and agreed to exert more efforts to bolster cooperation in all domains," HH Sheikh Jaber said in a press conference following the meeting. "During this visit, a number of cooperation agreements between Kuwait and Indian have been signed." HH the Prime Minister highlighted the historic, strong and fruitful relations between the two Asian nations over years. He underlined that Kuwait is looking forward towards achieving higher levels of cooperation and coordination in order to take these historic relations to new heights and materialize the aspirations of peoples of the two nations. He stated that he discussed with the Premier Singh cooperation in countering terrorism affairs and the pivotal role of India in retaining security and stability in west Asia region. HH Sheikh Jaber Jaber added that they also tackled regional and international issues of common concern. He expressed gratitude to the Indian government for the great hospitality he and his accompanying delegation have received since they arrived in India. Earlier, the two premiers attended the signing ceremony of five bilateral cooperation agreements and memos of understanding. The first agreement was signed between Kuwait's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and India's Home Minister Sushil Kumar Shinde over convicts' extradition. The agreement would enable the transfer of sentenced persons in both countries to serve their remaining sentences of imprisonment or any other form of punishment in their home country. The second agreement was the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Foreign Service Institute (FSI), India Foreign Ministry and Kuwait's Saud Al-Nasser Al-Sabah Diplomatic Institute (KDI). The MoU was signed by Kuwait's Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Sabah Al-Khaled Al-Hamad Al-Sabah and India's Foreign Minister Salman Khurshid. This MoU aims at promoting cooperation between the FSI and KDI, including exchange of information on structure and content of training programmes, exchange of trainees, students, faculty members, experts and researchers. The third agreement was on cooperation in the field of sports and youth affairs, signed between Kuwaiti Minister of Commerce and Industry Anas Al-Saleh and Indian Minister of Sports Jitendra Singh. The agreement would help in promoting and strengthening bilateral cooperation between the two countries in the field of sports and youth through institutional exchanges particularly through exchange of youth and sports teams in various games. The fourth agreement, on executive programmes for cultural and information exchanges for the period 2013-2016, was signed between Undersecretary of Kuwait's Foreign Ministry Khaled Al-Jarallah and Indian Secretary for Culture Ravindra Singh. The executive agreement aims to enhance cultural cooperation between Kuwait's National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCCAL) and Kuwaiti Dar Al-Athar Al-Islamiya on one side and Indian Lalit Kala Akademi and Indian Rampur Raza Library on the other. The agreement allows exchange of TV and radio programmes, increased participation in training programmes and courses and symposia of mutual interest in the field of libraries and information, reciprocal visits of experts and archaeologists and cooperation on management and conservation of cultural heritage sites. The final and fifth agreement was signed between Undersecretary of Kuwait's Foreign Ministry Khaled Al-Jarallah and Indian Secreatry Ashok Thakur over the cooperation between India and Kuwait in education and learning. It aims to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the field of education and learning by exchange of students, researchers, academics, and specialists