New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will come to Qatar on an official visit on June 4-5 at the invitation of the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, it was announced on Friday.
The bilateral trade between the countries in 2014-15 exceeded $15 billion. Qatar is also the largest supplier of LNG for India.
This is the first prime ministerial visit from India to Qatar in eight years since the visit of then prime minister Manmohan Singh to Doha in 2008.
“There has been regular exchange of high-level bilateral visits in the recent past,” external affairs ministry spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in his weekly media briefing here.
“The Emir of Qatar H H Sheikh Tamim had visited India in March 2015. Previously, the then Emir of Qatar H H Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani had visited India in 1999, 2005 and 2012,” he said.
India has had historical and close relations with Qatar and these are marked by mutually beneficial commercial exchanges and extensive people-to-people contacts.
“Qatar is an important trading partner for us in the Gulf region with bilateral trade in 2014-15 exceeding $15 billion,” Swarup said.
“It is our largest supplier of LNG requirements, accounting for 65 percent of our total imports in 2015-16. It was also one of our key sources of crude oil.”
At 630,000, Indians form the largest expatriate community in Qatar.
“Their positive contribution in the progress and development of their host country is well recognised,” the spokesperson said.
He added that during the visit, the prime minister and the Emir will hold discussions on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest.
Modi had earlier visited Saudi Arabia in April 2016 and UAE August 2015. He is scheduled to visit Iran on May 22.
The Indian PM have a busy schedule in June as he will be meeting US President Barack Obama in Washington next month to discuss security and other issues, the White House said on Friday.
In a statement, the White House said Obama and Modi will discuss economic growth, climate change, clean energy, and security and defense cooperation during the meeting on June 7, which follows Obama's trip to New Delhi in January 2015.
IANS/Agencies
