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Prime Minister Narendra Modi held bilateral talks with Qatar Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani on Tuesday, with the two leaders discussing trade , investment and energy and recalling historic trade linkages and deep-rooted people-to-people ties between the two countries.
The two sides agreed to double bilateral trade to USD 28 billion over the next five years and announced the elevation of their relationship to the level of strategic partnership .
Both the countries also signed two agreements in the presence of Modi and the Amir here. The first is on establishment of a strategic partnership and a revised double taxation avoidance agreement was also signed.
India and Qatar also signed five memoranda of understanding (MoUs) to strengthen economic partnership, step up ties in areas such as management of archives, and cooperation in youth affairs and sports.
Impact Shorts
More Shorts”The strategic partnership agreement actually elevates the present state of bilateral relationship to a strategic level. What we are looking at is deepening cooperation in fields of trade, energy security, as well as in regional and international fora,” Arun Kumar Chatterjee, Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, told reporters here after the talks.
Chatterjee said Modi and the Qatari Amir also decided to set a target to double bilateral trade from the current USD 14 billion to USD 28 billion over the next five years.
Last year, during Modi’s visit to Qatar, India had signed a USD 78 billion deal to extend LNG imports from the Gulf nation by another 20 years till 2048 at rates lower than the then prevailing prices.
They also exchanged views on ”regional and global issues” of mutual interest, Naturally, the Middle East situation and the evolving situation over there came up for discussions. Both sides conveyed their mutual positions that we have on the Israel-Hamas issue. India conveyed its own position, the Qatari side conveyed their own position and we exchanged views. Both the leaders had discussions on that,” Chatterjee said when asked if the West Asia situation figured in the talks.
He was also asked what will the strategic partnership entail and if defence cooperation is expected to be part of it.
”At this moment, we are not talking about any kind of defence-related cooperation,” he said.
India has enjoyed centuries of good relations with countries like Iran, while smaller gas-rich nation Qatar is one of India’s closest allies in the region. India shares good relations with most of the countries in the Gulf.
The two most important reasons for the relationship are oil and gas, and trade. Qatar accounts for 41% of India’s total natural gas imports. Two additional reasons are the huge number of Indians who work in the Gulf countries, and the remittance they send back home.
With inputs from agencies