‘FMs of both countries discuss issue during recent phone conversation’

KUWAIT CITY, July 12: India is closely following up the recent developments in Kuwait’s demographics issue after the National Assembly’s Legislative Committee approved the related bill and seeks to gradually reduce the number of expatriates into the country.

Indian Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava revealed in a statement quoted by the Indian newspaper, Live Mint, about the discussion of this issue between the foreign ministers of India and Kuwait during a recent phone conversation. “We share excellent bilateral relations that are deeply rooted in the ties between people, and the Indian community in Kuwait is highly valued, as well as elsewhere in the Gulf, and their contributions are well recognized,” he said.

“We have shared our expectations that the Kuwaiti decision will be taken into consideration.” According to media reports, and according to the newspaper, about 800,000 Indians may have to leave Kuwait if the Kuwaiti Parliament passes the bill. The newspaper pointed out that the Legal and Legislative Committee of the Kuwaiti National Assembly decided that the draft law on the quotas of expatriates is constitutional.

One million in Kuwait, which constitutes the largest foreign community in the country with a population of 4.3 million, and Kuwaitis make up 1.3 million of them, while expatriates represent the rest.

The classification of Indian labor according to the Indian Embassy in Kuwait, there are about 28,000 Indians working for the Kuwaiti government in various jobs such as nurses and engineers in the Kuwaiti oil companies and a few scientists, and that a majority of Indians, who are 523,000, work in private sector jobs.

The embassy also said there are about 116,000 on dependent visa, including about 60,000 students studying in 23 Indian schools in the country. (Al- Qabas)