As all of us know Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin HAMAD AI Thani reached India’s New Delhi Monday night. Mr Modi Received him personally at the airport. Although this was not coming under the protocol, Modi still did that to show his respect toward Amir Sheikh.
Agenda:
Yesterday, they had a meeting together, and the agenda was to upgrade their ties to a strategic Partnership. This was a very fruitful meeting as they discussed ways to enhance cooperation in areas like trade, investment, energy and security. Qatar Sheikh committed Modi to invest $10 billion in India as it was announced that the Qatar investment authority will open an office in India. In the Meeting, they agreed to expedite negotiation for the India-Qatar Bilateral Investment Treaty.
Qatar is 5th Gulf Cooperation Council country with which India has signed a strategic partnership agreement after Oman, Saudi, UAE and Kuwait.
What PM Modi Said?
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that a very useful meeting was held with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. This visit is even more special because we have raised our relations to a strategic partnership. PM Modi said that we want to diversify India-Qatar trade relations.
Agreement on Trade
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held bilateral talks on several issues on Tuesday. India and Qatar have set a target to double their trade to $28 billion in the next 5 years. Along with this, both the countries also announced to increase their relations to a strategic partnership. PM Modi said that we want to diversify India-Qatar trade relations.
PM Modi has also given information about the talks with the Amir of Qatar in his e-mail. He wrote, ‘Trade was discussed prominently in our talks. We want to increase and diversify India-Qatar trade relations. Our countries can also work together in areas such as energy, technology, healthcare, food processing, pharma and green hydrogen.’ Bilateral trade between India and Qatar stood at $14 billion last year.
We elevated our relations to a strategic partnership: PM
PM Modi earlier said in a post, ‘Had a very useful meeting with the Amir of Qatar Hamad Al Thani. Under his leadership, Qatar has touched new heights of progress. He is also committed to the strong India-Qatar friendship. This visit is even more special as we have elevated our relations to a strategic partnership.’
In the talks between PM Modi and the Amir of Qatar, both have agreed to establish a strategic partnership and a revised double taxation avoidance agreement. Apart from this, 5 MoUs have also been signed to strengthen economic partnerships and advance relations in areas such as archives management and cooperation in sports, including youth affairs. Along with this, a target was also set to increase the trade to $28 billion.
Trade Details
Let us tell you that India received foreign direct investment (FDI) of $ 1.5 billion from Qatar from April 2000 to September 2024. Bilateral trade between India and Qatar reached $ 18.77 billion in 2022-23. However, it saw a decline in the last financial year. Bilateral trade between the two countries has come down to $ 14 billion in the year 2023-24. Qatar is the biggest supplier of PNG and LNG.