By Joseph Varghese/Staff Reporter


Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Qatar soon, disclosed Indian Union Minister for Law and Justice D.V. Sadananda Gowda.
Speaking to Gulf Times, Gowda said that following the state visit of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to India last month, there is every likelihood that Modi will pay a visit to Qatar soon.
Gowda, who was in Doha, leading an Indian delegation for the 13th UN Congress on  Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice, said: “Prime Minister Narendra Modi is visiting all the major countries in the world with the plan to make India an economic destination. He will visit Qatar in the near future as Qatar is an economical force with great potential for co-operation.”
Indian Ambassador Sanjiv Arora added that there was an invitation from Qatar’s leadership for the Indian premier to visit the country. “The Indian prime minister attaches very high priority in further strengthening the relations between Qatar and India. There is an invitation from the Qatari leadership to Prime Minister Modi to visit the country and it is a question of finding a mutually convenient schedule.”
The visiting Indian minister said that voting rights for the non-resident Indians (NRIs) will be granted soon. “Practically we have agreed on electronic voting system for the NRIs and we have to adopt the whole procedure in the most feasible way and it will be implemented at the earliest possible. The Indian Election Commission is an autonomous body and they have to take the final decision on the matter, when to start implementing the voting rights for the NRIs.”
As for implementing the recent agreement between Qatar and India on transferring the prisoners, the minister said talks were in the final stages. “I had a discussion on the matter with my Qatari counterpart and we are working out the modalities. Hopefully, it will take place soon.”
As for India’s stand on terrorism and other criminal activities, the Indian minister said that his delegation had provided clear recommendations at the congress. He added: “Black money is an important issue that we are facing in our country and countering it is a priority for our government. We are happy that it has been included in the declaration of the congress.
“Cross border terrorism is another major problem. We have raised the issue of transnational terrorism which many of the countries are facing all over the world. With the advancements in technology, people can plot criminal activities from one country and the incidents can take place in other countries. Therefore, we need to have a joint mechanism to counter these issues.”


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