Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar is scheduled to visit Qatar soon for political-level meetings with Qatari leaders focused on fostering the two countries’ relations and sorting out regional issues. The visit that will last from December 30 to January 1 will see the minister attend meetings with Qatar Prime Minister, Qatari Foreign Minister Sheik Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, as the Ministry of External Affairs revealed on Sunday.
To review different sectors of bilateral relations between India and Qatar, Jaishankar will hold talks on political dialogue, trade and investment, energy, security, education and culture, and media and society. Other regional and international concerns will also be discussed by the two countries.
This is Jaishankar’s second trip to Qatar to resolve a diplomatic issue of eight former Indian Navy men detained in Qatar in 2022. Both men were accused of espionage and sentenced to death in 2023, but later, their sentences were reduced to years’ imprisonment. Out of seven appeals, seven people were repatriated to India, and one still resides in Qatar to complete the paperwork for deportation.
Business between India and Qatar is quite healthy at the moment. In the financial year 2023-24, they both traded with $14.08 billion and exported products at $1.7 billion while importing products at $12.38 billion. Some of the major exported goods imported by India from Qatar are Non integrated LNG, Liquefied petroleum gas, chemicals and aluminium, whereas the export goods by India to Qatar includes Cereals, Processed food, including machinery and construction materials. Forging deeper and stronger links, India also featured among the largest three export markets for Qatari exports in 2023 – after China and South Korea.
The visit of Jaishankar to Qatar comes after a six-day visit to the United States, where he will be meeting the officials of the outgoing Obama administration and also with the transition team of President-Elect Donald Trump; this makes a clear signal that India’s foreign policy speaks of connectivity.
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