India-Qatar : Energy Task Force to be set up

An announcement was made after Minister of  Petroleum and Natural Gas and Steel, Dharmendra Pradhan and Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi had a telephonic call that India and Qatar will set up a task force on energy.

Highlights

• The recent call seeks to promote the Qatari investments in the entire energy value chain in India.
• Both sides also agreed to strengthen the cooperation in the energy sector.
• The countries seeks to move beyond the buyer-seller relationship to a comprehensive one.
• The cooperation also include a two-way investments.
• The Task Force on Energy would be represented by Vice-President of Qatar Petroleum and a senior officer from the Petroleum Ministry.
• The task force will identify specific projects in India’s energy sector for investments from Qatar.

India-Qatar Relation

The diplomatic relation between India and Qatar was established in the year 1973. Both the countries have enjoyed a warm and friendly relation since then. They share a common developmental and cultural values. The first-ever diplomatic visit to Qatar was made by Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh in November 2008. During that visit, a maritime defence agreement was approved between the countries

Recent cooperations

• When Emir Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani made his visit to India in March 2015, five MoUs were signed in several fields.
• Agreement on prisoner repatriation was also made. As per this agreement, convicted citizens of India or Qatar can be extradited to their native country to spend the remaining years of their prison sentence.

India-Qatar Energy Cooperation

Qatar had agreed to invest US 5 billion dollar in energy sector of India in 2008.  There is also a proposal to construct a deep-sea gas pipeline from Qatar to India through Oman.