Transcript of Special Briefing by MEA on the State visit of the Amir of Qatar to India (February 18, 2025)
India - Ministry of External Affairs
February 18, 2025
Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome you to this press briefing on the State visit of the Amir of Qatar. We have with us, Arun Chatterjee, Secretary (CPV & OIA) to brief us on the developments of the day. We also have with us, Shri Aseem Mahajan, Additional Secretary (Gulf) and we are joined by our Ambassador to Qatar, Shri Vipul. With that, I invite Secretary Sir to make his opening remarks. Sir, over to you.
Shri Arun Kumar Chatterjee, Secretary (CPV & OIA): Thank you, Randhir. Good afternoon to all of you and thank you all for joining us today for this special briefing on the ongoing State visit of His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the Amir of the State of Qatar to India.
His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the Amir of the State of Qatar, is on a State visit to India on 17th and 18th February at the invitation of the Honorable Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi. He arrived in New Delhi yesterday evening. As you are all aware, Honorable Prime Minister made a special gesture to receive His Highness at the airport. This shows not only the strength of the relations between the two countries, but also the high personal regard that both the leaders have for each other.
This is the second visit of His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani to India as Amir of the State of Qatar. He last visited India in March 2015. You may recall that Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi paid his second visit to Qatar in February 2024. He had invited His Highness the Amir to pay a State visit to India at that time. External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar has held multiple meetings with Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs, including on 1st January 2025 in Doha.
His Highness the Amir of Qatar is accompanied by a high-level delegation comprising Ministers, Senior Officials and Business Leaders. The dignitaries who are accompanying His Highness include Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, His Excellency Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, as well as the Ministers of Commerce and Industry, Energy, Electronics and Information Technology, Labor, and the Minister of State for Foreign Trade.
The CEOs of several top Qatari entities such as Qatar Investment Authority and Qatar Tourism are also part of the delegation. Coming to the program, this morning His Highness the Amir was received by the Honorable President of India, Smt. Droupadi Murmu and Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi at the forecourt of the Rashtrapati Bhavan, where the Amir was accorded a ceremonial welcome. The Honorable President will be meeting His Highness in the evening today and also host a banquet reception in the honor of the Amir and the accompanying delegation thereafter.
Just a while ago, the Prime Minister held bilateral talks with His Highness the Amir at Hyderabad House. Both leaders recalled the historic trade linkages, deep-rooted people-to-people ties, and robust bilateral relations between both the countries. They expressed the desire for further expanding and deepening of the multifaceted relationship between the two countries. Both sides have today agreed to elevate the relationship to a strategic partnership and India and Qatar have signed an agreement in this regard today.
Trade, investment and energy were among the major topics of discussion between the two leaders today. The trade today between India and Qatar is about US $14 billion annually. Both sides have agreed to set a target to double this in the next five years.
Qatar is also an important partner for investments in India. The Qatar's Sovereign Wealth Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority, currently has about US $1.5 billion FDI in India in sectors like retail, power, IT, education, health, affordable housing etc.
Now both leaders today identified a number of areas in which the Qatar Investment Authority can increase investments in India. This includes infrastructure, ports, shipbuilding, energy including renewable energy, smart cities, food parks, start-ups, and new technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, and machine learning.
Prime Minister appreciated His Highness the Qatar Amir for bringing a large delegation of top Qatari businessmen for this visit. Joint Business Forum was held today under the co-chairmanship of the Ministers of Commerce and Industry of India and Qatar in which top industrialists, companies and institutions of both countries held very productive interactions. Earlier, the Joint Business Council between India and Qatar comprising of top businesses from both the countries met virtually. We already have institutional mechanisms in place in this regard and His Highness Amir's visit should lead to further growth in mutual investments.
India and Qatar share a very vibrant partnership in the area of energy. Qatar is a major source of LNG for India. Both leaders today noted that in February 2024, Qatar Energy and Petronet LNG Limited had signed an agreement for supply of 7.5 million metric tonnes per annum of LNG from Qatar to India for 20 years starting 2028.
Both leaders also discussed ways to further strengthen and broaden the energy partnership including exploring mutual investments. India and Qatar today enjoy deep-rooted friendly relations anchored in historic trade and people-to-people ties. Both countries commemorated the 50 years of establishment of diplomatic relations in 2023. The Prime Minister thanked the Amir of Qatar for his support for the large Indian community in Qatar, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The Qatar Amir also appreciated the Indian community for its contributions to the development of Qatar.
Two Agreements and Five Memorandums of Understanding have been signed during the State visit of His Highness the Amir. The first agreement is on the establishment of a bilateral strategic partnership. A revised double taxation avoidance agreement was also signed. Both sides have also signed MOUs during the visit including on economic partnership, cooperation in the area of archives and documentation and youth affairs and sports.
On the sidelines of the Joint Business Forum today morning Invest India and Invest Qatar signed an MOU for promoting mutual investments. CII and the Qatar Businessmen Association also signed an MOU for promoting networks between the top businessmen on either side. A Joint Statement will be released on the occasion and the list of the MOUs signed between the two sides will also be made available on the Ministry's website.
While concluding, I can say that the Amir's visit provided an excellent opportunity for the top leadership of the two countries to discuss and cement a strategic partnership for enhanced future cooperation as well as exchange views on regional and international issues of mutual interest.
Friends, I will stop now here and will be happy to answer a few questions, if you have any.
Huma Siddiqui, Financial Express: Sir I am Huma Siddiqui. I just wanted to know if the India GCC-FTA talks were part of the agenda, and how many companies were represented from Qatar, which sectors, if that could be shared?
Abhishek Jha : Hi, sir. Abhishek Jha this side. My question is regarding this strategic partnership that you have declared. Could you please explain the scope of this partnership? Will it be just in the energy sector or the defense sector will also be included?
Madhurendra Kumar, News Nation: Sir, Madhurendra, main News Nation se. Mera sawal hai ki kya dono Rashtra Adhyakshon ke beech jo baatchit hui, usm Israel aur Hamas ke agreement ko lekar bhi baatchit hui, kyunki Qatar ka usme bada role raha? Aur Bharat bhi lagataar appeal karta raha tha ki jald se jald shanti honi chahiye. Toh is bare mein kya baatchit hui?
[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi]Madhurendra Kumar, News Nation: Sir, Madhurendra from News Nation. My question is whether the conversation between the two Heads of State included discussions about the agreement between Israel and Hamas, given that Qatar played a significant role in it? As India has been consistently appealing for peace to be established as soon as possible. So, what was discussed regarding this?
Ayanangsha Maitra: This is Ayanangsha Maitra. Sir, we have seen Qatar's active involvement right from Doha process to the agreement. During His Excellency's visit, was Afghanistan discussed? And if it is, what sort of discussion was it? Thank you.
Shri Arun Kumar Chatterjee, Secretary (CPV & OIA): Yeah, first let me come on the GCC-FTA. You see, India and the Gulf Cooperation Council, we are at this moment negotiating about having a free trade agreement. As far as Qatar is concerned, both sides are exploring the possibility of signing a free trade agreement in future and that was one of the discussions that took place in this round of talks.
As far as the strategic partnership establishment agreement is concerned, it actually elevates the present State of bilateral relations to a strategic level. What we are looking at is deepening cooperation in the fields of trade, energy, investment, security, as well as in the regional and international fora. As you know, within the GCC, India has got signed strategic partnerships with UAE, Saudi Arabia, Oman and Kuwait.
In today's meeting regarding whether Israel-Hamas was discussed. As I mentioned, both the leaders talked about the regional and international issues of mutual interest. Naturally, the Middle East situation and the evolving situation over there came up for discussions. Both sides conveyed their mutual positions that we have on the Israel-Hamas issue. India conveyed its own position, the Qatari side conveyed their own position and we exchanged views. Both the leaders had discussions on that.
As far as Afghanistan is concerned, the discussions focused on all the aspects of our region and that is all that I can say at this moment. There was a question about Qataris entities participants. Sorry I missed out. So, 38 Qatari entities were represented in the business forum covering sectors such as retail, IT, tourism, technology, food processing, realty and hospitality. There could be a few more, but I just mentioned about the important ones.
Keshav Padmanabhan, The Print: Thank you, sir. Keshav Padmanabhan, from The Print. Two questions. One, when we're talking about security, did we discuss potential cooperation or sales of weapons to Qatar, seeing how they're the world's largest importer of arms? Was there any sort of discussions on deepening defense ties, in that sense? And then the second question on the region in West Asia was, President Donald Trump's maximum pressure campaign on Iran discussed ... and how that would impact the area? Could you give us a sense whether Iran was also discussed as a part of the region, sir? Thank you.
Rishikesh, PTI: Sir, Rishikesh from PTI. So how many Indians are currently in Qatari jails, and was the issue of releasing some of them, against whom there might be minor or petty charges discussed during these bilateral talks?
Sudhi Ranjan Sen, Bloomberg: Sir, Sudhi Ranjan from Bloomberg, sir. One is a clarification. Did they agree to double trade to $28 billion in the next five years, if you could clarify that? And also, did President Donald Trump's proposal of removing all Palestinians to neighboring countries figure? If so, what was India's position, and what was Qatar's position on that?
Vineeta Pandey, The Asian Age, Deccan Chronicle: Vineeta from The Asian Age, Deccan Chronicle. My question, maybe the Ambassador can answer this. Last year, two Swaroops of Guru Granth Sahib was taken away by the Qatari authorities. One was returned. Has the second Swaroop also been returned to the community there?
Sahil Pandey, ANI: Sir, I'm Sahil Pandey from ANI News Agency. Any discussion on the former Indian Navy official, which was jailed in Qatar?
Shri Arun Kumar Chatterjee, Secretary (CPV & OIA): Okay, let me start. Doubling up the trade. At this moment, Indo- Qatar trade is hovering around $15 billion, if I would say, $14.8, I think, that's where the figure is. Yes, both sides are setting a target for themselves to double it. So, it's in five years. That means up to 2030, we are looking at a target of taking it to somewhere around 28, definitely. So that was one.
Second, when it comes to the question of number of Indians in Qatari jails, we'd just like to mention, see, the Indian diaspora today is the largest in Qatar, as far as the expatriate population is concerned. Unfortunately, do we have some of our people who are in jail. The number at this moment is around 600. And from time to time, we do see Qatari leadership granting pardons, and releases them from their terms. About 85 Indians received such pardon during 2024. We have a transfer of sentenced persons agreement that is still awaiting ratification by the Qatari side.
Regarding the Navy official who is still over there, I would like to just mention that his matter still remains subjudice in the local courts in Qatar. And as I mentioned, the Honorable Prime Minister appreciated the work that Amir and his government is doing in the protection and the welfare of our Indian citizens.
Now, regarding the strategic partnership part, see, we at this moment do not have any defense agreement or cooperation with Qatar. Maybe the strategic partnership agreement does talk about security as one of the areas of cooperation which could be security related dialogue between the two countries. At this moment, we are not talking about any kind of defense related cooperation. Our main focus would be trade, energy, investment is what both sides are looking at and talking about.
Regarding the Middle East peace process, I would like to again reiterate. Both leaders discussed all the areas that was possible, and appreciated each other's position on this particular issue.
Shri Vipul, Ambassador of India to Qatar: I think Ministry had issued these statements at that time, if I remember correctly end of August or early September. So, I can categorically tell you there are no Guru Granth Sahibs in the custody of Qatari authorities.
Kunal, PTI: This is Kunal from PTI sir, a two-part question. The discussions that came up regarding global and regional issues, if you could share what are some of the, besides the Middle East, what are some of the other issues that were discussed? And secondly, as far as the strategic partnership is concerned, can we assume now that this is now coming to effect or is there a broader timeline because it was decided to elevate. So just clarity on that sir. Thank you.
Siddhant, CNN-News18: Hello sir, I am Siddhant from CNN-News 18. Sir, my question is regarding the strategic partnership because it has opened the room for discussion in multiple domains sir. My question is regarding the security cooperation between India and Qatar. Since Qatar is host to many terror groups, which includes Hamas, Taliban, etc., etc. And Indian neighborhood perhaps is known for many terror groups, they mushroom in our neighborhood. So are we looking at a possibility, may not be now but in future, for a security cooperation, intelligence sharing, etc., etc. Thank you.
Krishna Mohan Sharma, Bharat Express: Sir, Krishna Mohan Sharma from Bharat Express. GCC and FTA works together, but there has been a issue between the Oman and some of the partner. Has it been discussed or not?
Neeraj Dubey, Prabha Sakshi: Namaskar Sir, main Neeraj Dubey, Prabha Sakshi se. Sir, aksar aisi reports aati rehti hain ki Qatar mein jo Bharatiya mazdoor hain, unke jo poor working conditions hain, usko lekar. Toh kya iss mudde par bhi koi baatchit hui? Aur Sir, aap Israel aur Hamas se sambandhit sawal ka jawab de chuke hain, aur mera agrah rahega ki agar aap Hindi mein uska ek baar phir se jawab de dein.
[Approximate Translation: Question in Hindi] Greetings Sir, I am Neeraj Dubey from Prabha Sakshi. Sir, reports frequently emerge regarding the poor working conditions of Indian laborers in Qatar. Was this issue also discussed? And sir, you have already answered the question related to Israel and Hamas, but I would request you to kindly repeat your response in Hindi.
Shri Arun Kumar Chatterjee, Secretary (CPV & OIA): Regarding the workers conditions in Qatar, I would request the Ambassador if he can highlight. To the best of my knowledge, because I also handle the CPV and OIA issues, I can tell you that we have a joint working group mechanism between India and Qatar. If there are any issues flagged to us, as far as the workers are concerned, that is discussed between the two joint working groups. The last joint working group just met a week ago, and there were no concerns regarding the workers' conditions over there. This much I can highlight. But if there is anything specific, I would request ambassador to. Nothing. So, I just want to highlight that. So, that was something as I mentioned the Honorable Prime Minister thanked the Amir of Qatar for the excellent cooperation that we are receiving for the welfare of our Indian citizens that are there in Qatar.
Regarding strategic partnership, as I mentioned security cooperation, there could be at this moment, I think somebody raised the question whether it comes into effect right now or not. Well, the agreement has been signed today. So, it is a strategic partnership agreement covering the entire spectrum of the bilateral relationship. Definitely, a road map will be drawn for cooperation in future and then both sides will work towards implementing the strategic partnership agreement. As and when the security related issues would come up within the agenda, definitely will be discussed under the strategic partnership agreement.
As far as GCC is concerned, see Qatar last year facilitated the GCC process as the chair of the GCC in holding the first meeting of India GCC Foreign Minister level where we have been able to identify a few areas of cooperation within the GCC framework. India has an excellent relationship with the GCC countries individually, as well as GCC as a body.
So, as far as this meeting was concerned, the Honorable Prime Minister appreciated the efforts that Qatar made as the chair of the GCC last time in organizing this meeting. And as I just mentioned that while there is talks going on for an India GCC-FTA, India at the bilateral level with Qatar has decided that we will look at the possibility of having an FTA in future. So, one is at a multilateral level and this one is at a bilateral level.
And jaise aapne kaha, main itna batana chahta hoon ki Middle East peace process par dono netaon ne aapas mein baatchit ki. Aur woh ek doosre ka, jo country ka jo position hai, Unhone ek dusre ko bataya. Aur ek doosre ka jo niji position hai, woh bhi ek doosre se appreciate kiya. Aur woh samjhe ki humne kyun aisa position apnaya hua hai, aur unka position kya hai. Aur hum dono ne aapas usi vishay par baatchit hui.
[Approximate Translation : Answer in Hindi] But both leaders had a conversation with each other regarding the Middle East Peace process. They shared their respective countries' perspective. They also appreciated each other's positions. They understood why we have adopted such a position, and what their position is. And the discussion between us was on the same subject.
So again in English, both sides appreciated each other's position and they discussed the Middle East peace process. I don't want to go into the entire nitty-gritty of the details, but I can just tell you that this was definitely discussed.
See, all the issues that were there between us, the entire spectrum that is possible was covered during the delegation level talks.
Shri Randhir Jaiswal, Official Spokesperson: Ladies and gentlemen, with that we come to the closure of this press briefing. Please do look for the joint statement which will be put up on the MEA website that has more details as also a list of announcements in regard to the visit. So that will give you a broader sense, a broader outline of all that we have covered in this visit, historic visit in a sense where we have uplifted this partnership to strategic one.
With that thank you very much for your presence.
New Delhi
February 18, 2025
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