PM Modi Qatar Visit / PM Modi will go to Qatar from UAE, why is this small country important for India?

PM Modi Qatar Visit: After inaugurating the BAPS temple in UAE, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will fly to Qatar. Qatar is a small country in the Middle East, but in terms of foreign strategy, Qatar has its own identity. In the last few years, Qatar has presented itself as an effective mediator in front of the whole world. Qatar has good relations with each other's rivals and countries that have influence on the world, such as America, China, Russia and Iran. Qatar has played a special role in American foreign policy in the Middle East.

Qatar's relations with India are also very old and deep. Qatar is a big ally of India in the energy sector, apart from this Qatar has invested several billion US dollars in India. This visit of the Prime Minister is taking place at the end of his second term, so it is expected that many more big agreements can be signed between Qatar and India.

India's trade with Qatar

India imports 48% of its LNG requirement from Qatar while it imports 29% of the total LPG from there. Apart from this, many other types of petroleum chemicals, plastics and fertilizers are imported from Qatar to India. India exports metals, vegetables and spices to Qatar.

Indians in Qatar

8 lakh 35 thousand Indians work in Qatar, which is 27 percent of the total population of Qatar. Indian people are there in engineering, health, education, banking, finance, media and blue collar jobs. A total of 15,000 small and big Indian companies are present in Qatar. Indian companies have invested US$450 million in Qatar.

Relations between india and qatar

In the government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, special emphasis has been given to Qatar in the Middle East. Sushma Swaraj was the first Indian External Affairs Minister to visit Qatar. Prime Minister Modi went to Qatar in June 2016. This is his second visit to Qatar which is going to be held on 14-15 February. Earlier in November 2008, the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had visited Qatar.

The Modi government included Vice President Jagdeep Dhankar, then Vice President Venkaiah Naidu, Foreign Minister S. Jaishankar, the then External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and many other ministers had visited Qatar.

Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani visited India in 2015. Before him, his father and the then Amir had visited India in 1999, 2005 and 2012.