Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived here this evening on the second leg of his three-day visit to the Gulf states of Sultanate of Oman and Emirate of Qatar, where he signed two agreements on defence and security.
The defence cooperation agreement includes issues of maritime security, while the pact on security and law enforcement will cover issues like common threat perceptions and sharing of data. Singh met Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al Thani for talks on enhancing trade, defence and energy cooperation.
Singh will tomorrow call on Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani.
In Doha, the Prime Minister was received by Qatar’s minister of state for foreign affairs Ahmad Bin Abdullah Al-Mahmoud and the council of ministers. He was also presented a guard of honour.
The visit — first by an Indian head of government — follows a successful first leg to Oman, where the two countries decided to set up a committee to eliminate delays in the implementation of decisions in the economic sphere. Deputy chairman of the planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia will be heading the committee on the Indian side while the economic adviser to the Sultan of Oman will head the Oman side.
The committee will also have members from the private sector and will concentrate on operationalising the Indo-Oman Joint Investment Fund, which was created yesterday with a seed money of $100 million, with India and Oman jointly contributing $50 million each. The fund is expected to go up to $1.5 billion.
Earlier in the day, the Prime Minister rounded off his visit to Oman with an audience with the Sultan of Oman His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said.
The Prime Minister will be joined on the Qatar-leg of the visit by petroleum minister Murli
Deora.
