Thanksgiving? PM Modi To Visit Qatar After Almost Eight Years, Announcement Comes After Navy Veterans Were Released

Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Qatar's capital Doha on 14 February afternoon after finishing his engagements in UAE (you can read the detailed UAE plan here), Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said.

PM Modi will hold bilateral meetings with Amit of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and "other high dignitaries in Qatar." This will be the PM's second visit to Qatar, the first being in June 2016.

Saying that the bilateral relations between the two countries are "steadily growing", Kwatra highlighted the recent signing of a 20-year contract for the purchase of 7.5 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) of LNG between Petronet and QatarEnergy.

Highlighting the presence of a strong dispora and bilateral trade worth $20 billion, Kwatra described PM's visit to Qatar as "opportunity to discuss ways to further deepen and strengthen on multifaceted partnership."

The announcement to visit Qatar comes after Doha released eight navy veterans, who were arrested on espionage charges in August 2022 and seven of them returned earlier today.

Kwatra said that they are working on the return of the eighth Indian national as quickly as possible. He added, "PM himself personally, constantly supervised all developments in this case."