External Affairs Minister (EAM) S Jaishankar is on a three day visit to Kuwait to further strengthen the bilateral ties between India and Kuwait.
The minister is on his way to Kuwait via Doha transit on Wednesday morning. Primary purpose of the visit is to thank the two countries for supporting India during the raging second wave of Covid 19 pandemic.
Both the countries acted as a logistics hub for liquid medical oxygen supplies to Western India during the Covid 19 second wave.
During the second wave of Covid 19 pandemic, Kuwait supplied –
• 5,267 oxygen cylinders,
• 450 metric tonnes of liquid medical oxygen,
• 66 oxygen concentrators,
• 11 ventilators and
• Other items like drugs, oximeters, mask and gloves to India in its hour of crisis.
All these medical support from Kuwait came to India from May 4 to June 8.
EAM S Jaishankar will carry Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal letter for Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Nawaf al-Ahmad al-Sabah.
He will also hold meetings with his counterpart Sheikh Ahmed Nasser al-Mohammad al-Sabah with the objective of deepening ties in energy, trade, investment, manpower and information technology sector.
Till date, Qatar is the largest supplier of LNG and LPG to India.
It has also maintained the flow of passenger flights under the air bubble arrangement since August 2020, especially over the past weeks when many other airlines from the Gulf region closed.
The 700,000 strong Indian community in Qatar also contributed generously. They mobilized –
• 532 fully filled oxygen tanks and
• 43 oxygen concentrators.
• The first consignment of 200 fully filled oxygen cylinders and 43 oxygen concentrators was brought by INS Kolkata on May 10.
• The second consignment of 232 oxygen cylinders of 42 litres and 50-litre capacity were brought on board INS Tarkash on May 12.
These were used in various states, including Nagaland, Odisha, Bihar and Telangana.
Also Read: Covid 19 Second Wave and Acute Shortage of Oxygen in India