India, Qatar to sign defence, security pact

India and Qatar will sign landmark defence and security agreements, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh visits the gas-rich nation this evening.

Singh, on his first trip to the energy-rich Gulf region in four-and-a-half years as Prime Minister, will meet Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al Thani for delegation level talks on enhancing trade, defence and energy cooperation, officials said.

The defence cooperation agreement would include issues of maritime security, while the pact on security and law enforcement would cover issues like common threat perceptions and sharing of data.

The security cooperation agreement would meet Qatar's security concerns, but would be short of stationing of troops, an official said, adding that the two nations under the agreement would safeguard each others security interests.

The pact would entail joint training exercises.

Singh would tomorrow call on the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, who is also hosting a private lunch for the Prime Minister and his wife Gursharan Kaur.

New Delhi is keen on buying an additional 2.5 million tonnes of LNG from Qatar to meet the growing energy needs of industry.

Qatar being home to the world's third-largest gas reserves, discussions there may feature a proposal of state-run gas utility GAIL India to set up a mega petrochemical plant in a joint venture with Reliance Industries.

The GAIL-Reliance joint venture had earlier this year sought rich gas from Qatar for the petrochemical plant, but Doha had made no commitments, saying all its current production was tied up.