Relationship dossier
Kuwait
United Kingdom
Relationship assessment
A longstanding partnership shaped by defense cooperation, the 1990–91 Gulf War and extensive commercial ties.
Kuwait toward United Kingdom
+45Kuwait has sustained defense and diplomatic cooperation with the United Kingdom and maintains substantial commercial ties. Kuwait’s partnership with Britain has continued through high-level engagement and bilateral cooperation.
United Kingdom toward Kuwait
+50The United Kingdom supported Kuwait against the Iraqi invasion in 1990 and took part in the 1991 liberation. It has since maintained defense cooperation and commercial and diplomatic engagement with Kuwait.
Overall relationship
+50The relationship has an enduring strategic foundation in Britain’s support for Kuwait during the 1990–91 crisis, followed by continued defense cooperation and broad commercial engagement. These features underpin a close partnership, although its current practical scope is not fully clear.
How to read these scores
Scores are rough judgments, not objective measurements or current verification. Directional scores describe government policy and conduct, not public opinion. The overall score is an independent estimate, never an average.
- −100
- Extreme sustained hostility
- −50
- Substantially adversarial
- 0
- Mixed or neutral, supported by knowledge
- +50
- Substantially cooperative
- +100
- Exceptionally close sustained partnership
“Not assessed” means there is no recorded score. Pair existence makes no claim about diplomatic recognition or established relations.
Relationship context
Overview
Kuwait and the United Kingdom maintain a longstanding partnership involving defense, trade, investment and diplomatic cooperation. The United Kingdom supported Kuwait during the 1990 Iraqi invasion and participated in its liberation in 1991. Subsequent defense cooperation and regular high-level engagement have sustained close ties, alongside substantial commercial links.
Key developments
The United Kingdom supported Kuwait following Iraq’s invasion and participated in the coalition that liberated Kuwait.
Kuwait and the United Kingdom have maintained ongoing defense cooperation and bilateral engagement.
Major uncertainties
- The present scope and implementation of defense cooperation agreements are unclear.
- The balance of recent commercial cooperation and bilateral policy differences is not fully clear.