HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani with President Pranab Mukherjee at Rashtrapati Bhavan in New Delhi on Wednesday.
Agencies/New Delhi
Indian President Pranab Mukherjee yesterday said India deeply values Qatar “as a reliable source of energy” and it was time that the two countries convert their commercial synergies into a deeper energy partnership through joint ventures in refineries and petrochemicals projects in India.
Mukherjee said India and Qatar share deep and rich historical connections based on geographic proximity and cultural commonalities.
Qatar is part of India’s extended neighbourhood. Civilisational links between the two countries find expression in mutually beneficial, growing economic and commercial exchanges and close people-to-people contacts, the president said, according to an official statement issued here yesterday.
HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani was in New Delhi on a two-day visit.
Speaking at a banquet held at Rashtrapati Bhavan in Sheikh Tamim’s honour, Pranab Mukherjee thanked the Emir and HH the Father Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani for their personal commitment to strengthening bilateral ties with India.
He thanked the Emir and his government for ensuring the safety, security and well-being of the Indian community in Qatar.
Responding to the president, Sheikh Tamim said bilateral relations between the two nations have been always strong, but they can be made even stronger.
“The goal of his visit was to strengthen relations. Qatar is happy with the progress in relations between the two countries in various fields,” the statement said.
“It is confident that these relations will continue to develop and grow further, particularly after signing more co-operation agreements between the two countries and in the wake of the significant economic reforms introduced by the Indian government which has led to improvement in the investment climate in the country,” it added.
The Emir also reiterated Qatar’s commitment to help secure India’s energy needs.
He expressed appreciation over the role of the Indian community in Qatar and their contribution to the progress and economic development of his country.
He noted with satisfaction that Indians in Qatar were highly respected for their peaceful and hard-working nature.
As part of his official engagements in New Delhi, the Emir held detailed bilateral discussions with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
He held separate meetings with Indian Vice-President Hamid Ansari, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Minister of State (Independent Charge) Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan.
During the official discussions, the two sides underlined the close and friendly bilateral ties, deep-rooted in shared history and sustained and nourished through growing economic links, multi-faceted co-operation and vibrant people-to-people contacts.
The wide-ranging discussions were held in a sincere, friendly and forward looking atmosphere. There was exchange of views on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest.
The two sides discussed ways and means to build a forward-looking partnership by further broadening and deepening the bilateral engagement in areas such as energy, power, petrochemicals, investments, infrastructure, development, project exports, education, culture, health, human resource, media and information technology.
The two sides stressed the importance of continuing regular bilateral consultations through the robust architecture of dialogue in place, including the Composite Delegation Mechanism, Foreign Office Consultations and various joint committees and working groups. It was emphasised that the sectoral Joint Working Groups should meet more often to strengthen co-operation.
The two sides welcomed the signing of following agreement/MoUs:
I. Agreement between the governments of India and Qatar on the Transfer of sentenced prisoners.
II. MoU on mutual co-operation between the Foreign Service Institute, Ministry of External Affairs, India and the Qatar Diplomatic Institute, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
III. MoU between the ministry of communication and information technology of India and the ministry of Information and communication Technology of the State of Qatar for co-operation in the field of Information and Communication Technology;
IV. MoU between India Meteorological Department, Ministry of Earth sciences and Qatar Meteorological Department for Scientific and Technical co-operation in the field of Atmospheric and Ocean Sciences;
V. MoU for co-operation in the field of Radio and Television between Prasar Bharati and Qatar Media Corporation;
VI. Agreement for mutual co-operation and exchange of news between Qatar News Agency and United New of India (UNI).
