India and Qatar have signed an agreement to elevate their trade relationship to a bilateral strategic partnership during the visit of Qatar’s Amir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, to India. In his meeting with India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in New Delhi, trade, investment, and energy were key focus areas. Both countries committed to doubling bilateral trade to $28 billion within the next five years.
According to India’s Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), a revised agreement on double taxation avoidance was also signed. Qatar’s Investment Authority is expected to increase investments in infrastructure, ports, renewable energy, food parks, robotics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Machine Learning (ML). At a joint business forum in India’s national capital, both nations discussed expanding their energy partnership, including mutual investments.
Earlier in the day, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal welcomed the growing energy trade with the West Asian country, noting that the goal is to transition to new-age technologies that will form the backbone of trade. The Minister also mentioned that India and Qatar have elevated their Joint Working Group on trade to the ministerial level, with his counterpart from Qatar, Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani, also present.
Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) were signed between the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) and the Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA), as well as between Invest India and Invest Qatar, aimed at expanding cooperation in business.
