There has been a phenomenal growth in India-Qatar relations in recent years, Indian Ambassador to Qatar Sanjiv Arora has said.

In a statement to Gulf Times prior to the South Asian nation’s 65th Republic Day celebrations on January 26, the envoy said the multi-faceted co-operation between India and Qatar within the excellent framework provided by historic ties and regular and substantive engagements have benefited both the countries.

“The government of India and its people greatly admire the strides being made by Qatar in education, research and innovation; infrastructure; business, finance and investments; sports, arts and culture; and other spheres and are keen to expand collaborations to the mutual benefit of both sides. Besides official interactions, people-to-people contacts and initiatives by (the) private sector are galvanising dialogue and co-operation in various sectors,” the ambassador said.

India, said the envoy, is a country of more than 1.2bn people and is currently the world’s third largest economy on purchasing power parity terms with its huge and growing energy needs. “Our people greatly value Qatar’s vital partnership with our country in the energy sector as Qatar is the largest supplier of LNG to India. There is a large and expanding market for Qatar’s LNG, oil and petrochemical sectors in India,” the ambassador noted.

Bilateral trade between the two countries has been steadily growing and exceeded $16.30bn in 2012-13. “When the final figures of the two-way trade come soon, there would certainly be further improvement,” the ambassador said, noting that companies from his country are taking increasing interest in developing and expanding collaborations in infrastructure, communications and information technology, energy and other areas in Qatar.

“Qatar has extensive infrastructural development requirements as it prepares to host the prestigious FIFA World Cup in 2022. The world-class competences and competitiveness of India’s corporate sector, as is demonstrated in different fields, would provide an attractive opportunity to both the countries,” he said.

Arora also feels the vast potential for substantially augmenting Qatar’s investment in India is a win-win situation for both countries.

The ambassador recalled that last year witnessed several important developments in India’s bilateral co-operation with Qatar. It included the visit of Qatar by India’s Finance Minister P Chidambaram, renewal of the defence co-operation agreement, meeting of joint working groups on defence and human resources, visits of ships of the Indian Navy and Coast Guard, commencing of a new terminal for LNG supplies in Kochi, participation of Qatari companies and officials in Petrotech 2014 and Asia Gas Partnership Summit in New Delhi, visits of business delegations from India’s apex trade and industry bodies and other organisations, approval for setting up of Qatar National Bank office in India and a full-scale branch of Doha Bank in Mumbai, and the participation of many Indian delegates at the World Innovation Summit for Education, World Innovation Summit for Health and other major conferences in Doha.

The envoy felt “A Passage to India” festival organised by the Indian community at the Museum of Islamic Art Park in November was a remarkable success in terms of participation by many nationalities, including Qataris. A number of senior Qatari officials visited the festival venue and showed keen interest in understanding India more closely than ever before, he said.

Arora also hoped that there would be more major people-to-people interactions and visits by senior officials to both countries in the coming days.

He congratulated his community members for their efforts in strengthening ties between the people of the two countries.

 

 

 

 

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