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India-Qatar (Pic Source: Tv9Hindi.com)
Even critics of the Prime Minister do not shy away from admitting that his visit has increased the rapprochement between the Gulf countries and India. The reason for this is Prime Minister Narendra Modi visiting these countries several times after 2014 and signing important economic agreements like CEPA.
Prime Minister Modi has visited the UAE 7 times since 2014 and when he visited the UAE in 2015, he was the first Indian Prime Minister to visit the UAE after 35 years. Similarly, closeness was seen between Prime Minister Modi and the ruler of UAE in relation to Qatar.
PM Modi's visit after 8 years
Currently, the Prime Minister is in Doha, the capital of Qatar. This is the Prime Minister's first visit to Qatar after the death sentences of eight retired soldiers were pardoned. After amnesty, 7 of these ex-officers have recently come to India and for this the Government of India was highly appreciated. There are many reasons for this. India-Qatar friendship will not be complete without mentioning Manmohan Singh.
The most important reason for the strong ties between India and Qatar was mutual cooperation in terms of trade and economy. After coming to power in 2014, Prime Minister Modi visited Doha during 2016 at the invitation of Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar. This visit was special because before this the Prime Minister of India visited Qatar about 8 years ago. Then the two countries came closer due to Manmohan Singh's official visit.
Manmohan Singh: Relations got a new place
Earlier, the then Sheikh of Qatar had visited India in 1999, 2005, 2012 and 2015. But when Manmohan Singh visited Qatar as Prime Minister in November 2008, the maritime defense agreement between the two countries was approved. Then this maritime defense agreement was called a milestone. Later two more meetings were held between the two countries in this regard.
In the same year, a historic agreement in the energy sector was also signed between India and Qatar, under which Qatar promised to invest 5 billion US dollars in India's energy sector. Apart from this, a proposal for a deep-sea gas pipeline from Qatar to India via Oman was also agreed upon.
Both these were huge decisions that were taken during the tenure of former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. One reason for the proximity of India and Qatar is the number of expatriates. As of 2023, the population of Indians in Qatar was about 7.5 lakh, which was about 25 percent of the total population of Qatar.
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