New Delhi, Feb 6: Union Minister Minister Ports, Shipping & Waterways Sarbananda Sonowal had discussions on various policies and programs initiating progress in the transportation facilities between two borders with Minister of Transport of State of Qatar Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti in New Delhi.
During this meeting Shantanu Thakur, Minister of State for Ports, Shipping & Waterways, Sudhansh Pant, IAS, Secretary (PSW) and Rajesh Kumar Sinha, IAS, Additional Secretary (PSW) along with senior officers of the Ministry accompanied the Union Minister MoPSW.
India-Qatar cooperation in diverse sectors has been steadily growing in an excellent framework led by historical close ties, regular and substantive engagement.
The large, diverse, accomplished and highly regarded Indian model of international relations is making an important contribution to Qatar’s progress.
‘Fruitful discussions were held on commitment to strengthen the bilateral maritime cooperation, including interaction between Indian Ports and Qatari Ports to share best practices in areas of port operations, logistics, supply chain management, and digitalization’, said Sarbananda Sonowal.
It is to be noted that, Qatar’s key exports to India include LNG, LPG, chemicals and petrochemicals, fertilisers, plastics, and aluminium articles, while India’s key exports to Qatar include cereals, copper articles, iron and steel articles, vegetables, fruits, spices, and processed food products, electrical and other machinery, plastic products, construction materials, textiles & garments, chemicals, precious stones and rubber. India’s bilateral trade with Qatar in 2021-22 was US$ 15.03 billion.
India’s export to Qatar during 2021-22 was US$ 1.83 billion and India’s import from Qatar was US$ 13.19 billion. In 2021, India was among the top four largest export destinations for Qatar and is also among the top three sources of Qatar’s imports.
This year (2023) marks 50 years of establishment of full diplomatic relations between India and Qatar and Mr Jassim Saif Ahmed Al-Sulaiti is on an official visit to India from 5th to 8th February 2023.