 "Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani witness Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani exchanging MoU documents, at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi. PTI")
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Amir of Qatar held discussions on wide-ranging topics including FTA, technology, energy and people-to-people ties, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Tuesday.
India and Qatar have agreed to elevate the relationship between the two countries to a ‘strategic partnership’ and focus more on trade and investments from hereon. Amir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani’s visit to India comes at the invitation of Modi. This is his second state visit to India. He earlier visited India in March 2015.
“India and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), we are at this moment negotiating about having a free trade agreement. As far as Qatar is concerned, both sides are exploring the possibility of signing a free-trade agreement in future and that was one of the discussions that took place in this round of talks. As far as a strategic partnership agreement is concerned, it actually elevates the present state of bilateral relations to a strategic level,” Secretary (CPV & OIA), Arun Kumar Chatterjee said.
Earlier today, Thani was accorded a ceremonial guard of honour at the Rashtrapati Bhavan as President Droupadi Murmu welcomed the visiting leader. PM Modi was also present for the ceremonial event.
India and Qatar also exchanged an agreement on the establishment of a strategic partnership between the two countries.
PM Modi, Qatar’s foreign minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and EAM Jaishnakar were present when the documents were exchanged.
The two sides also announced agreements that seek to tackle double taxation and prevent fiscal evasion of income. Prime Minister of Qatar and Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman exchanged this agreement.
Meanwhile, the MEA informed that at least 85 Indians who were held in Qatari jails were released by authorities last month, adding that at the moment around 600 NRIs are in prison.
Last year, Qatari authorities seized two swaroops of the Guru Granth Sahib and the Indian foreign ministry said at the time the government was pursuing the matter relentlessly with the government there.
Today, the Qatari Ambassador said, “No Gurugrath Sahib in the custody of Qatari Authorities.”
With inputs from PTI