India’s exports of fresh fruit and vegetables to Qatar have jumped by 15% within a two-week period because of an increase in demand, Indian media reported recently, citing official sources.
India’s food exports to Qatar increased after Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain imposed an economic blockade on Qatar on June 5. Since then, many cargo airlines have delivered goods in large quantities to Qatar, the report said.
A senior official of the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (Apeda), India, confirmed the development and said: “India’s fruit and vegetables exports to Qatar have increased probably due to (a) halt in their exports from Doha’s neighbouring countries.”
A report in Business Standard newspaper says a large quantity of India’s fruit and vegetable exports comes to Qatar via other countries, noting that Doha has now started importing from India directly.
The report also quotes a Pune-based fruit exporter, who points out that while fruit and vegetable exports to Qatar have increased in the past two weeks, the demand is yet to reach its limit. New orders are “expected to start pouring in from Qatar,” he adds.
The launch of the new India Qatar Express Service (IQX) is expected to further boost trade between India and Qatar. The first of the two vessels operating under the new service arrived at Doha’s Hamad Port recently.
The vessel, Hansa Magdeburg, had sailed from Nhava Sheva port in India. The IQX service connects Hamad Port with the Mundra and Nhava Sheva ports in India. It aims to boost trade between Qatar and India, and meet the growing demands of importers and exporters from both countries.

Bashir backs Kuwait mediation to end siege
Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has reiterated his support for Kuwait’s mediation efforts to defuse the diplomatic crisis in the Gulf, aljazeera.com reports. In a speech marking the end of Ramadan, Bashir said: “We welcome Eid al-Fitr with all its joy and we recall what our Arab and Islamic nation is going through in terms of strife between honourable brothers who had and still have generous stances with our country.”
He said the situation “necessitates that we work” towards reconciliation and exert all efforts to bring them together, noting that Sudan will back all efforts that aim at ending the crisis.
“Sudan is backing the efforts made by the Emir of Kuwait,” Bashir added.

Kuwaiti FM discusses regional issues with Tillerson, Johnson
The first deputy prime minister and foreign minister of Kuwait held on Saturday a series of telephone conversations with several international diplomats, aljazeera.com said, citing reports by Kuwait’s state-run media.
Kuwait’s Kuna news agency said Sheikh Sabah Khaled al-Hamad al-Sabah spoke with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson and Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu.
He also had a phone discussion with Sigmar Gabriel, Germany’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Federica Mogherini, the European Union’s foreign policy chief.
The diplomats discussed the latest regional and international developments, Kuna said.
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