The two leaders met to review bilateral relations shortly after Sheikh Tamim was accorded a ceremonial welcome by President Droupadi Murmu at Rashtrapati Bhavan. Modi had personally received the Amir on his arrival in New Delhi on Monday, reflecting the importance attached by India to bilateral ties.

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Besides elevating the relationship to a strategic partnership, the two sides signed a revised agreement for avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion for taxes on income.

Modi and Sheikh Tamim held wide-ranging talks at Hyderabad House and decided to elevate ties to a strategic partnership with the focus on trade, energy, investments, innovation, technology, food security, culture and people-to-people ties, external affairs ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said on X.

Both leaders also exchanged views on regional and global issues, Jaiswal said. It is understood that the Israel-Hamas conflict and Qatar’s role in facilitating a recent ceasefire figured in the talks.

Earlier in the day, commerce minister Piyush Goyal and his Qatari counterpart, Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani, participated in the India-Qatar Business Forum organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry to bolster trade ties between the two sides.

Sheikh Tamim’s visit, his first to India in almost a decade, marks the reset of bilateral ties following strains caused by the incarceration of eight Indian Navy veterans in Qatar two years ago.

The eight men, including highly decorated naval officers, were sentenced to death in 2023 but this was subsequently commuted by a Qatari court. The men were freed on the orders of the Qatari Amir in February 2024, and this was quickly followed by Modi’s visit to Doha.

Seven of the navy veterans have returned to India, while Commander (retired) Purnendu Tiwari continues to be in Qatar.

Two-way trade was worth $14.08 billion in FY 2023-24 and Qatar is the largest supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) to India (10.91 million metric tonnes of LNG and 4.92 million metric tonnes of LPG in FY 2023-24).

India’s imports from Qatar include LPG, chemicals, petrochemicals, plastics, and aluminium articles. India’s exports to Qatar include cereals, vegetables, fruits, spices, copper, iron and steel, electrical and other machinery, plastic products, and construction materials.

The 830,000 Indians living in Qatar form the largest expatriate community and are well regarded for their contributions to the development of the West Asian country.