DOHA/NEW DELHI: Vice President M. Venkiah Naidu, who is on a visit to Qatar, met its Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani at Amiri Diwan on Sunday and assessed the developments in bilateral relations, an official statement said. They also agreed to further strengthen their historic friendship in all areas, the MEA statement said.
Both sides expressed satisfaction at the continued engagement at the highest levels between both countries since the landmark visits of Qatar's Amir to India in 2015 and Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Qatar in 2016. They agreed that high level engagement should be sustained, including through an early visit of Qatar's Amir to India. Both sides also looked forward to the convening of the Joint Commission between the two sides, at the Foreign Minister level, later this year and also agreed to promote bilateral parliamentary exchanges.
India has close and friendly relations with Qatar and the commitment to deepen multifaceted bilateral cooperation in trade, investment, energy, food security, defence, technology, culture, education, health, media, and people to people contacts. Naidu thanked the Qatari leadership for taking great care of the Indian community.
In a meeting earlier of Sunday, Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani recalled the historic relations between both countries which are based on mutual trust and appreciated the contribution of the Indian community in his country's development of Qatar. An understanding has been reached to set up an ICCR Chair of Indian studies at Qatar University.
Both sides expressed strong commitment to further enhance bilateral trade and investment cooperation. Naidu has invited the Qatari side to explore the significant opportunities in a range of sectors including infrastructure, connectivity both physical and digital, energy, defence and hospitality. Qatar also invited Indian entities to look for opportunities in sectors like education, pharmaceuticals and healthcare. Both sides discussed the impact of recent global developments on food and energy security and renewed their long-term commitment to energy partnership. Naidu alslo assured the Qatari leadership of India's assistance in meeting Qatar's food security.
Qatar's FDI in India is in excess of $450 million and there is great potential for increasing these investments. Invest India and Investment Promotion Agency of Qatar have reached an understanding on cooperation to promote two-way investments between both countries. IANS
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