# Somalia and Kuwait > Somalia and Kuwait: relations since 1964, the Kuwait Fund loans and debt relief, the 1990 Gulf War, aid and trade. Source page: https://calankii.com/en/relations/kuwait/ Last checked: 2026-11-13 Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com) ## How do Somalia and Kuwait relate today? [Kuwait](/en/diaspora/kuwait/) is one of Somalia's main remaining creditors. At the end of 2025 Somalia owed the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development (KFAED) US$123.88 million, and 19% of all its foreign debt was in Kuwaiti dinars ([Somali Ministry of Finance, Annual Debt Management Report 2025](https://archive.mof.gov.so/sites/default/files/Publications/FY2025%20Annual%20Debt%20Management%20Report%20%28ADMR%29%20Report%20No.2_mq%20%281%29.pdf)). Somalia paid the Kuwait Fund US$2.66 million in interest in 2025. The ministry pays only lenders that have already given debt relief ([Ministry of Finance, 2025](https://archive.mof.gov.so/sites/default/files/Publications/FY2025%20Annual%20Debt%20Management%20Report%20%28ADMR%29%20Report%20No.2_mq%20%281%29.pdf)). Goods trade is small. Kuwait bought US$4.8 million of Somali goods in 2023 ([WITS, World Bank](https://wits.worldbank.org/API/V1/SDMX/V21/datasource/tradestats-trade/reporter/KWT/year/2023/partner/SOM/product/Total/indicator/MPRT-TRD-VL)). ## When did contact begin? Diplomatic relations date from 29 July 1964, according to a CIA broadcast digest of that year cited by Wikipedia ([en.wikipedia.org, Foreign relations of Somalia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_relations_of_Somalia)). In the 1970s Kuwait lent to Somalia. By the end of that decade Somalia owed Kuwait US$27.1 million, part of the third of its debt owed to oil-exporting states ([Library of Congress, Somalia: A Country Study](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/60.htm)). In the 1980s Somalia depended more and more on aid from Kuwait, [Qatar](/en/diaspora/qatar/), Saudi Arabia and the UAE. This was a key reason the [Siad Barre](/en/people/siad-barre/) government sided with the US-led coalition after Iraq invaded Kuwait in 1990 ([Library of Congress, Relations with Arab Countries](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/79.htm)). ## Who are the ambassadors and envoys? No list of ambassadors in either direction was found for this page. ## Who built the tie? No named individuals behind Kuwait–Somalia agreements were found in the sources checked. The main institution is the Kuwait Fund for Arab Economic Development ([Ministry of Finance, 2025](https://archive.mof.gov.so/sites/default/files/Publications/FY2025%20Annual%20Debt%20Management%20Report%20%28ADMR%29%20Report%20No.2_mq%20%281%29.pdf)). ## What agreements have they signed? - **Loan agreements with the Kuwait Fund:** the stock of US$123.88 million at the end of 2025 is the remainder of these loans ([Ministry of Finance, 2025](https://archive.mof.gov.so/sites/default/files/Publications/FY2025%20Annual%20Debt%20Management%20Report%20%28ADMR%29%20Report%20No.2_mq%20%281%29.pdf)). - **April 2025, in Kuwait City:** Somalia signed a US$306.5 million debt relief deal with the Abu Dhabi-based Arab Monetary Fund ([Reuters, 10 April 2025, via Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somalia–United_Arab_Emirates_relations)). The ministry describes it as a 20-year rescheduling with zero interest, concluded on 9 April 2025 ([Ministry of Finance, 2025](https://archive.mof.gov.so/sites/default/files/Publications/FY2025%20Annual%20Debt%20Management%20Report%20%28ADMR%29%20Report%20No.2_mq%20%281%29.pdf)). ## Which leaders have visited? No dated state visits were found for this page. ## How much do they trade? From World Bank WITS data: - **Kuwait's imports from Somalia:** US$13.3 million in 2010, US$0.4 million in 2015, US$5.7 million in 2021 and US$4.8 million in 2023 ([WITS, 2010](https://wits.worldbank.org/API/V1/SDMX/V21/datasource/tradestats-trade/reporter/KWT/year/2010/partner/SOM/product/Total/indicator/MPRT-TRD-VL); [WITS, 2023](https://wits.worldbank.org/API/V1/SDMX/V21/datasource/tradestats-trade/reporter/KWT/year/2023/partner/SOM/product/Total/indicator/MPRT-TRD-VL)). - **Kuwait's exports to Somalia:** under US$0.5 million a year from 2019 to 2023; US$0.27 million in 2023 ([WITS, 2023](https://wits.worldbank.org/API/V1/SDMX/V21/datasource/tradestats-trade/reporter/KWT/year/2023/partner/SOM/product/Total/indicator/XPRT-TRD-VL)). ## How much aid and money has gone in? Humanitarian funding reported to the UN Financial Tracking Service: - **2011:** Kuwait government US$11.9 million, during the famine ([FTS, 2011](https://api.hpc.tools/v1/public/fts/flow?locationid=206&year=2011&groupby=organization)). - **2017:** Kuwait government US$2.5 million ([FTS, 2017](https://api.hpc.tools/v1/public/fts/flow?locationid=206&year=2017&groupby=organization)). - **2022:** Kuwait government US$2.1 million ([FTS, 2022](https://api.hpc.tools/v1/public/fts/flow?locationid=206&year=2022&groupby=organization)). - **2023:** Kuwait government US$1.8 million; Kuwaiti Horizons Charity Society US$0.4 million; Kuwait Red Crescent US$0.2 million ([FTS, 2023](https://api.hpc.tools/v1/public/fts/flow?locationid=206&year=2023&groupby=organization)). - **2025:** Kuwait Fund US$2.5 million; Kuwait government US$1.25 million ([FTS, 2025](https://api.hpc.tools/v1/public/fts/flow?locationid=206&year=2025&groupby=organization)). See [Debt and debt relief](/en/economy/debt-and-debt-relief/) for Somalia's wider debt deal. ## What about security? No sourced Kuwaiti military role in Somalia was found. See [Foreign forces in Somalia](/en/institutions/foreign-forces-in-somalia/). ## How does Kuwait deal with Somaliland and the member states? No sourced Kuwaiti agreements with [Somaliland](/en/states/somaliland-1991-to-2026/) or the member states were found. ## Have there been disputes? None were found in the sources checked. ## How many Somalis live in Kuwait? No reliable count was found for this page. ## Where does Kuwait stand in the UN and other bodies on Somalia? Both are members of the Arab League, which Somalia joined in 1974 ([Library of Congress](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/79.htm)). In the 1990–1991 Gulf crisis Somalia sided with the coalition that opposed Iraq's invasion of Kuwait ([Library of Congress](https://countrystudies.us/somalia/79.htm)). ## Related pages - [Debt and debt relief](/en/economy/debt-and-debt-relief/) - [Aid and humanitarian funding](/en/economy/aid-and-humanitarian-funding/) - [Siad Barre era, 1969 to 1991](/en/history/siad-barre-era-1969-1991/) --- I want to help with this: email hello@calankii.com. Fix this page: email hello@calankii.com with the page link and your source.