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Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s maiden visit to the Gulf countries of Oman and Qatar in November 2008 opened new avenues of cooperation to enhance India’s energy security and provided India a larger space in the general security scenario in West Asia.
In the words of Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, “the Gulf region is an area of great importance to India as it is part of our extended neighbourhood, and home to five million Indians. It is the largest source of our energy supplies. We have active trade and investment interests”.
As the Gulf nations are working to diversify their economies to reduce dependence on oil revenues, India is in a better position to play the role of an important partner in their efforts. That is why education and human resource development were accorded much importance during the visit.
More over, India is eyeing the Gulf nations for investment, which are flush with surging oil revenues and comparatively insulated from the current global economic crisis. Investors from the Gulf region are keen to tap markets such as India, China and South-east Asia to put their money in.
Oman
Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh paid a visit to Oman from November 8-9, 2008 and renewed India’s longstanding ties with the leaders and people of Oman. The Prime Minister met His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said and Deputy Prime Minister Sayyid Fahd Mahmoud Al Said and held detailed discussions on bilateral issues.
Following his meeting with Oman’s Deputy Prime Minister, Singh said: “The political leadership of Oman and India are united in our resolve to cement our relationship into a mighty strategic relationship.”
Both India and Oman share a special vision for bilateral relationship and the visit concretized that vision into a broad and mutually beneficial cooperative framework.
In Oman, India has one of the largest investments, a little over US$950 million in the company called OMIFCO (Oman India Fertiliser Company). It is a major symbol of India’s strong bilateral cooperation with Oman. India already operates two agreements with Oman - on Defence cooperation and another on Joint cooperation on combating crime. India and Oman signed a manpower development agreement, to open employment opportunities for Indians in Oman.
Voice of Moderation
“Our links with the region go back to several centuries, and we are not strangers to the Gulf. We would like to view ourselves as a stabilising and moderating voice in a world that is faced with threats of extremism, intolerance and terrorism,” the Prime Minister said in an interview in Oman.
India-Oman Fund
The India-Oman Joint Investment Fund, signed in Muscat during the PM’s visit, was a significant development. The fund formally opened up investment opportunities to Omani businesses in India’s infrastructure sector, which, according to the Prime Minister, needs over US$500 billion in the next five years.
Set up with a seed capital of US$100 million - shared equally by the India and Oman - the fund is designed to identify projects in infrastructure, health, utilities, tourism, urban infrastructure and other sectors in both countries.
Oman’s ruler Sultan Qaboos Bin Al Said, during his meeting with Dr. Manmohan Singh mentioned that clear steps were needed to eliminate delays in ventures emanating from the fund. Accordingly, India agreed to form a special committee headed by Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and his Omani counterpart to activate the fund and submit a report within six months. This sent a positive signal to all investors from Gulf that India means business, indicating more such agreements between India and other Gulf nations.
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PM in Qatar |
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Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh visited Qatar for two-days, from 10 November 2008, and held one-to-one talks with Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani. Clearly, it was a new chapter in the dynamic relations between Qatar and India. He held wide-ranging talks with H.E Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani and other prominent leaders.
During the visit, two agreements on Defence cooperation, Security and Law enforcement were signed. The Defence cooperation agreement covered maritime security while the pact on security addressed issues like common threat perception and sharing of data.
Opportunity
The PM said, “Current global financial crisis presents, in many ways, a rare window of opportunity for India and Qatar. The investment requirements of a large emerging economy like India and the large financial surpluses of an energy rich economy like that of Qatar can be married together to create a win-win situation for both our countries”.
Qatar and India enjoy historical and traditional links, which precede the independence of both countries. Qatar, like other countries in the Gulf, enjoys a pre-eminent position in India’s foreign policy perspectives on several counts. Indians are the largest expatriate community in Qatar. Numbering over 4,00,000, the Indian community in Qatar is known for their hard work, diligence and great enterprise. The annual remittances of Indian expatriate workers are over US$ 700 million.
Secondly, India and Qatar enjoy close and friendly relations at the political level and share common views and perceptions on matters of bilateral, regional and international interest.
Thirdly, from the economic standpoint, there is a growing synergy between India and Qatar in the hydrocarbon and other sectors. The two countries are natural economic partners with their strengths and potentialities complementing each other. While Qatar has made significant progress in the development of its natural gas reserves in the North Dome Field, India is a large and expanding market for export of LNG from Qatar. Its geographical proximity to Qatar ensures mutually beneficial interaction from a long-term perspective. Indian companies are also increasingly looking to invest in Qatar in such sectors as energy, construction, finance and information technology.
Energy Sector
India called for increased supplies of liquefied natural gas (LNG) in addition to what it gets now. Under a 25-year agreement signed in 1999, Qatar has been supplying India with 7.5 million tonnes of LNG annually in two phases since 2004. But India wants 2.5 million tonnes more.
Qatar has the third largest gas reserves in the world, the Indian side made a similar pitch for investment. “The reserve of funds in Qatar is fairly high. One area of cooperation under consideration is how a mechanism can be formed by which investments from Qatar can be made into different sectors in India,” N. Ravi, Secretary (East) in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said in Doha.
It was unmistakable that the Indian PM’s visit to Gulf became a major milestone in India’s relations with these countries in terms of people-to-people interaction, trade, investment, and long-term energy security.
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