India’s Ambassador to Qatar H E Dr. Deepak Mittal, Board Member at Qatar Chamber Mohammed bin Ahmad Al Obaidly, and other officials from ICAI and IBPC participate during the summit.
Doha: Doha Chapter of ICAI (DCICAI) in association with the Indian Business & Professionals Council (IBPC) recently hosted a virtual “Qatar-India Bilateral Investment Summit” which saw nearly 100 attendees comprising of eminent dignitaries, professionals, and chapter members attending from Qatar, India, Singapore, and other countries.
India’s Ambassador to Qatar H E Dr. Deepak Mittal, who was Chief Guest during the summit, commended the ‘first of its kind’ event which was of strategic importance to foster collaboration in the areas of trade and investment between Qatar and India.
The Ambassador spoke about the vision of leaders of both countries and the comprehensive framework to forge alliance and partnership to take the promising economic relations to newer heights. He also touched upon a series of new initiatives and investment avenues which have been rolled out to attract foreign investments into India. He appreciated the role of the Chartered Accountants of India in Qatar and highlighted their important support in strengthening organisations.
Board Member at Qatar Chamber Mohammed bin Ahmad Al Obaidly, who was also Guest of Honour during the event, highlighted the solid partnership, conducive business environment, and strong historical relations between Qatar and India. He spoke of the seamless and attractive economic laws and the business ecosystem of Qatar, and urged all entrepreneurs to keep exploring more opportunities with different Qatari institutions, and contribute to the vision of the leadership. Al Obaidly elaborated on Qatar’s emergence as a major business hub thanks to its excellent infrastructure, and the role played by Qatar Chamber in working closely with private businesses and in supporting them.
Speakers from ‘Invest India’, the Investment Promotion and Facilitation Agency of the Government of India, Astha Tyagi and Rithik Ravindran, also spoke at the event and delivered insightful presentations on “Ease of Doing Business in India”.
Tyagi explained the various facets of collaboration and connection between governments, businesses and people of India and Qatar, and reiterated that India is one of the largest startup ecosystems in the world with 42 unicorns formed last year, and the highest ever annual Foreign Direct Investment in 2020-21.
Ravindran highlighted and deliberated upon various policy measures, excellent business support system, conducive ecosystem, post-pandemic recovery of the economy and integrated framework to attract Qatari investments into India.
Both speakers presented various facts, figures, policy initiatives and reiterated India’s holistic ecosystem, pointing out that the country is on the way to becoming the third largest global economy by 2030.
In his introductory address, Chairman of ICAI’s Doha Chapter Nirlep Bhatt shared his views on the common vision of the leaders of both countries, particularly the digitisation of the economy, thrust on the startup ecosystem and focus on ease of doing business. Bhatt appealed to DCICAI members to be tech-savvy and continue to effectively contribute to the economies of host country Qatar and home country India.
President of IBPC Jaffer Us Sadik stressed the role of the Indian businesspersons and professionals in Qatar. While thanking the Chief Guest and Guest of Honour for their excellent support and guidance, he touched upon the vision and initiatives of IBPC and assured full support to the activities of the DCICAI.
Vice-President for Finance & Investment at IBPC Rupalakshmi Setty also spoke about IBPC facilitating cross-border investment between India & Qatar through various activities and events, while DCICAI Treasurer Kamlesh Tibrewal went on to thank the dignitaries, guest speakers, audience and management committees of DCICAI and IBPC for successfully organising the event.
