The inaugural India Kuwait JDC meeting was held in New Delhi on Friday, bringing the two countries together under a standing bilateral defence mechanism for the first time. Both sides agreed to widen cooperation across training, military exercises, military medicine, staff talks, defence industry and research and development.

India Kuwait JDC meeting builds on the 2024 defence MoU

According to the Ministry of Defence, the first sitting of the Joint Defence Committee marked a step toward operationalising the Memorandum of Understanding on Defence Cooperation between India and Kuwait, signed during the Prime Minister's visit to Kuwait in December 2024. The MoU had set out the broad framework; Friday's meeting gave it an institutional body to work through.

Joint Secretary Amitabh Prasad and Brig Gen Raed Alsakran co-chaired the session, with the Kuwaiti side represented by a five member delegation.


Delegations spanned all three services and defence R&D

The Indian side at the India Kuwait JDC meeting drew representatives from the Army, Navy and Air Force, alongside officials from the Department of Defence Production, the Defence Research and Development Organisation, the Armed Forces Medical Services and the Ministry of External Affairs. The spread reflected the range of areas the two sides intend to work across, from joint exercises to medical cooperation and R&D.

Defence sources said the breadth of the delegation was meant to give every strand of the agreement a direct line into the talks.

Wreath laying and an industry visit preceded the talks

Ahead of the meeting, Brig Gen Raed Alsakran laid a wreath at the National War Memorial in New Delhi and paid homage to fallen soldiers, a customary part of high-level defence visits to the capital.

The Kuwaiti delegation had earlier visited DPSU Bhawan in New Delhi on the first day of their trip for discussions with representatives of the Indian defence industry on potential areas of cooperation. A separate industry interaction with the delegation is scheduled for the second day.

Defence Secretary level engagement of this shape has become familiar for India. The 25th India UK Defence Consultative Group meeting in August and the inaugural India Zimbabwe Joint Defence Committee before it both followed a similar template: a first sitting meant to give an existing relationship a standing mechanism to work through.

A partnership dating back to 1962

India and Kuwait established diplomatic relations in 1962. Geographic proximity, trade links and a large resident Indian community have sustained the relationship since, and it was upgraded to a Strategic Partnership during the Prime Minister's December 2024 visit to Kuwait. The Ministry of External Affairs and the Embassy of India in Kuwait both carry that upgraded relationship on their respective bilateral pages. It follows the same December 2024 visit that set up the framework India later drew on for the India Ivory Coast defence cooperation visit this year.