India, Qatar making key initiatives to boost trade relations: Indian envoy
Central banks of the two countries looking at newer financing mechanisms to facilitate trade
INDIA and Qatar have taken various initiatives recently to boost trade and investment between the two countries, India Ambassador to Qatar HE Deepak Mittal has said.
In an interview with Qatar Tribune, the Indian envoy said, “The volume of trade between India and Qatar was over $9 billion last year and it has been predominantly in the field of energy. Efforts on parts of both India and Qatar are on to expand and diversify it further. In this regard, various initiatives are being taken.”
“One is to look at all institutional dialogue mechanisms like we are setting up a joint working group between the ministries of commerce on both sides to look at how to promote trade. Second, we are in the process of setting up a joint business council between India and Qatar,” the envoy said.
“Third, we do have Indian Professional and Business Council here in Qatar and this is being revamped to make it more inclusive and evolve a mechanism so that there are more interactions with business bodies in Qatar,” he said.
INDIA and Qatar are working on various initiatives to strengthen trade and investment ties between the two countries, Indian Ambassador to Qatar HE Deepak Mittal has said.
In an interview with Qatar Tribune, the Indian envoy said, “The volume of trade between India and Qatar was over 9 billion last year and it has been predominantly in the field of energy. Efforts on parts of both India and Qatar are on to expand and diversify it further. In this regard, various initiatives are being taken.”
“One is to look at all institutional dialogue mechanisms like we are setting up a joint working group between the ministries of commerce on both sides to look at how to promote trade. Second, we are in the process of setting up a joint business council between India and Qatar,” the envoy said.
“Third we do have Indian Business and Professionals Council (IBPC) here in Qatar and this is being revamped to make it more inclusive. We are trying to evolve mechanism so that we have more interactions with business bodies in Qatar,” he said.
“We are looking at promoting the linkages in terms of financing of trade. In this direction, some good things have happened as Doha Bank has now three branches in India. Qatar National Bank also has a branch in India. Dialogue is happening between central banks of India and Qatar to look at newer financing mechanisms to facilitate trade between the two countries,” the envoy said.
“Efforts are also going on the investment side where an agreement has been reached between the two countries to set up a joint task force on investment to look at two-way mutually beneficial investments. The work is in progress
in this regard,” Mittal said.
“The two countries are also looking at measures to boost ties in the area of logistics to promote trade. I am very happy that we have strong air connectivity and over the past few years, we also have had very good sea connectivity. We have currently eight shipping lines calling Hamad Port in Qatar every week. All these developments have helped to promote trade between the two countries,” the envoy said.
“We have also set up a dialogue between investment promotion agencies of the two countries. Invest Qatar and Invest India have initiated talks to look for investment opportunities in both the countries,” he said.
“We are promoting the holding of B2B dialogues, B2B webinars, seminars and also online and physical exhibitions in the near future as we do to explore business opportunities between the two countries,” he said.
Besides the traditional energy sector, the envoy said, sectors like gems and jewellery, agriculture, food products, pharma and IT hold a lot of promise to boost trade between India and Qatar.
Energy remains an important pillar of the bilateral relationship between India and Qatar, the envoy said.
“We always appreciate Qatar’s vital role in ensuring India’s energy security. Over 40 percent of India’s gas requirements including LNG and LPG is met from Qatar. We are sure that Qatar will continue to play this vital role for India and in times to come,” he said.
“India has a very ambitious target in terms of sustainable developments and clean environment technologies. We are moving towards renewable and clean energy. We also have very ambitious projects to have gas-based economy in India that includes setting up LNG terminals, gas pipeline infrastructure, city-based gas distribution networks, using LNG as a fuel for mobility instead of the traditional diesel and petrol.
“All these provide a very strong synergy in terms of strengthening our energy partnership. Qatar and India have a joint task force on energy
that meets on a regular basis and working on newer initiatives to strengthen the partnership between the two countries,” the envoy said.
“We do have a long-term agreement with Qatar until 202 under which we import nearly mtpa of LNG from Qatar. Discussions are happening on how to make it a comprehensive energy partnership, not merely buy and sell. That dialogue is happening in a very positive manner.
“The energy ministers of the two countries have spoken to each other recently. This shows that there are talks at the leadership level and how important this sector is for both the countries,” the envoy said.