PM Modi to hold bilateral talks with Emir of Qatar during visit

Modi will be paying an official visit to Qatar from 4-5 June at the invitation of the Emir of Qatar

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani will hold discussions on bilateral, regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest, during the former's visit to the country.

Prime Minister Modi will paying an official visit to Qatar from 4-5 June at the invitation of the Emir of Qatar.

Ministry of External (MEA) official spokesperson Vikas Swarup said, that this is the highest-level visit from India to Qatar since the visit of the then prime minister Dr. Manmohan Singh to Doha in 2008.

There has been regular exchange of high-level bilateral visits in the recent past as the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim had visited India in March 2015.

Previously, the then Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani had visited India in 1999, 2005 and 2012.

India's historical and close relations with Qatar are marked by mutually beneficial commercial exchanges and extensive people to people contacts.

Qatar is an important trading partner for India in the Gulf region with bilateral trade in 2014-15 exceeding US $15 billion and it is India's largest supplier of LNG requirements, accounting for 65% of India's total imports in 2015-16.

"Over 6, 30,000 Indian nationals form the largest expatriate community in Qatar. Their positive contribution in the progress and development of their host country is well recognised," Swarup said.