Doha, Feb 16 (Representative) Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Qatar visit witnessed various elements of bilateral engagements besides the need for strategic investment and strategic partnership in the field of energy and technology. Addressing a press briefing here on Thursday, Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said, “ Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani held detailed discussions, first in a delegation level format and then in the restricted format”. He said the Prime Minister’s visit to Qatar is focused on consolidating the wide-ranging partnership that India and Qatar have across different fields of economic cooperation. He said that both the leaders discussed on areas of bilateral cooperation, including trade partnership, investment cooperation, energy partnership, issues engaged in regional security, cultural affinity, and people-to-people ties. He said, “The two leaders also spoke about the need for strategic investment and strategic partnership in the field of energy and technology and to proceed beyond the (inaudible) relationship in this field.
They also discussed issues of regional and international importance”.Stating that India and Qatar are very important trade partners, Kwatra said that there were several segments of bilateral cooperation between the two countries that were important, significant, and growing. “I would just highlight three, four of them. First is the bilateral trade, which roughly stands at close to $20 billion. Two is the strong investment cooperation that India and Qatar already have. Three, a very strong and vibrant Indian diaspora based and living in Qatar. And four, the multi-faceted partnership in the field of energy, which includes energy trade as also other segments of energy supply chain contributing to a stronger partnership in the field of energy security,” Kwatra said. Kwatra said that the Prime Minister also thanked the Amir, for his support for the welfare of the Indian community and, in this regard, expressed his deep appreciation for the release of eight Indian nationals of Al-Dahra company.
He said, “Most recently, on the sidelines of India Energy Week held in Goa, two countries signed an agreement for supply of 7.5 MMTPA, I think it stands for Million Metric Tons Per Annum, LNG from Qatar to India for 20 years, starting 2028 onwards. This long-term LNG partnership goes way back to 1999 and remains robust, strong, and future-oriented”. He said that the visit of Prime Minister to Qatar was very successful and the visit has set the stage and laid the basis for taking India-Qatar relationship to much higher level across the whole domain of cooperation; as also laid foundation to explore partnership in some of the new areas, including the domain of space, technology, and innovation.