India seeks investments from Qatar in infra, energy sectors

December 3, 2016

New Delhi, Dec 3: India on Saturday sought investments from Qatar in the infrastructure and energy sectors as the two sides signed four agreements, including on visas and cyber security.

modi

During delegation-level talks here led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his visiting Qatari counterpart Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani, the two sides reviewed bilateral relations in depth, in particular on the follow-up of the important decisions taken during Modi's visit to Qatar in June this year.

Sources here said the two leaders discussed cooperation in various sectors and acknowledged that the current level of trade and investment was much below potential.

"Prime Minister Modi highlighted the tremendous opportunities available for Qatari investment in India's infrastructure and energy sectors," a source said.

"He outlined the various measures taken by his government to open up the Indian economy and welcome FDI."

Modi and Al Thani also identified civil aviation as a priority sector for enhancing cooperation.

According to the sources, Modi mentioned that India imported eight million tonnes of urea per year and said that a long term arrangement with Qatar for the supply of urea would be welcome.

India could also meet Qatari needs in the area of food security, he said.

On his part, the Qatari Prime Minister invited India's participation in infrastructure and investment opportunities coming up ahead of the FIFA World Cup in that Gulf nation in 2022.

He also welcomed Indian investment in the port sector of Qatar.

"On energy cooperation, Prime Minister Modi said that we should go beyond the buyer-seller relationship to include joint ventures, joint research and development and joint exploration," the source said.

Qatar is the largest supplier of LNG to India, accounting for 66 percent of the total imports in 2015-16.

Modi, it is learnt, said that Indian companies were ready to invest in both upstream and downstream projects in Qatar in the hydrocarbon sector.

The two leaders discussed enhancing cooperation in defence and security, in cyber security in particular, and agreed on joint action to tackle money laundering and terrorist financing.

The security situation in Iraq, Syria and Yemen also came up for discussion.

Following the delegation-level talks, four agreements were signed by the two sides.

One agreement allows holders of diplomatic, special and official passports of the two countries visa-free travel between the two countries.

A protocol on technical cooperation in cyber space and combating cyber crime was signed between the Ministry of Home Affairs of India and the Ministry of Interior of Qatar.

The protocol adds an important dimension of bilateral technical cooperation in cyberspace and combating cyber crime to the existing framework agreement in the field of security signed in November 2008.

A letter of intent was signed that allows for negotiations on an agreement on grant of e-visa to businessmen and tourists of the two countries.

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was also signed between Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy of Qatar and Confederation of Indian Industry which will provide a framework for project experts for Indian companies in Qatar, including through participation in infrastructure projects in Qatar undertaken for the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

Another MoU was signed for encouraging greater collaboration and exchange in the field of national ports management.

Al Thani arrived here on Friday in what was the third exchange of high-level visits between Indiaand the Gulf nation in less than two years.

Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani visited India in March 2015 which was followed by the visit of Modi to that Gulf nation in June 2016.

Indians form the largest expatriate community in Qatar and their positive contribution in the progress and development of their host country is well recognised. There are over expatriate 630,000 Indians in Qatar.

Comments

Narayana
 - 
Sunday, 4 Dec 2016

Oh my Godse!! Idu enaithu marayarey!!!

satyameva jayte
 - 
Saturday, 3 Dec 2016

hi naren and viren.....any comments for your PM dealing with wahabi islamic countries? tum log bhi sudhar jaao.... papa enjoying...pillas troubling...

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News Network
July 19,2020

Bengaluru, Jul 19: A man protested in front of Karnataka Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa's residence on Saturday alleging lack of medical care claimed the life of his one-month-old infant girl, police said on Saturday.

Venkatesh sat with the baby's photograph in front of the Chief Minister's house, saying the girl developed health issues on July 11 and he rushed her to a hospital, but it turned him away, the police said.

He said he had approached about a dozen hospitals and all of them refused to provide the baby any medical care. Eventually, the baby died.

This forced Venkatesh to hold a protest to draw the Chief Minister's attention to the issue, the police said.

The demonstration drew public attention and a few people joined him in the protest, they said.

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News Network
June 20,2020

Bengaluru, Jun 20: Nine candidates filed their nominations for the June 29 elections to seven seats of the Karnataka legislative council on Thursday.

While the BJP has fielded four candidates, the Congress has given tickets to two and the JD(S) to one candidate respectively for the biennial elections to seven seats of the legislative council to be elected by the MLAs.

One independent and one person claiming to be affiliated to BJP have also filed their nomination papers at the office of Legislative Assembly Secretary MK Vishalakshi, who is also the returning officer for the polls.

"The nominations of two candidates without any proposers is likely to be rejected during scrutiny of the papers on Friday. So seven candidates will be in the fray for as many berths. Hence the election is likely to be unopposed if no one withdraws nominations," official sources said.

While scrutiny will take place, Friday, June 22 is the last date for withdrawal of candidature.

The election is necessitated as the term of seven MLCs — Naseer Ahmed, Jayamma, M C Venugopal, N S Bose Raju, H M Revanna (all Congress), T A Sharavana (JD(S)) and independent D U Mallikarjuna — will end June 30.

Based on their strength in the Assembly, while BJP is in a position to win four out of seven seats, Congress can win two and JD(S) one.

Twenty-eight valid votes of MLAs are required for each candidate to win.

Four BJP candidates MTB Nagaraj, R Shankar, Sunil Vallyapure and Pratap Simha Nayak filed their nominations today, after the party high command announced their names late on Wednesday.

Nagaraj and Shankar had played a key role in the formation of the BJP government after the coup that led to the collapse of Congress-JD(S) coalition.They had subsequently defected to the saffron party.

While Nagaraj lost the bye-elections held later, Shankar did not contest in exchange for a Council berth promise.

Among the other BJP candidates, Vallyapure is a former MLA from Chincholi and had given up his seat abiding by the party decision to field Avinash Jadhav, while Nayak is a senior party worker and had served as Dakshina Kannada district president.

A BJP insider said Shankar and Vallyapure have been given MLC tickets as they had given up their Assembly seats, while Nagraj was considered as he had faced a defeat during the bypolls because party MP B N Bachhe Gowda's son Sharath contested as a rebel.

Nayak's candidature is being seen as BJP high command's choice by party insiders, ignoring the state units recommendation of AH Vishwanath, a former JD(S) MLA who had defected to BJP.

Two Congress candidates, senior party leader BK Hariprasad and incumbent Naseer Ahmed also filed their nominations today.

Hariprasad's name was announced by the party on Wednesday, even as his tenure in Rajya Sabha is to end on June 25.

Naseer Ahmed, who is retiring as MLC on June 30 is seeking another term.

The choice of candidates by the Congress high command is being seen as a mixed bag for CLP leader Siddaramaiah as Naseer Ahmed is said to be close to him, while Hariprasad is considered among his adversaries.

In a surprise move, JD(S) has fielded Govinda Raju from Kolar as the party candidate for the MLC polls.

Incumbent MLC T A Sharavana and outgoing Rajya Sabha member Kupendra Reddy were seen as the prime aspirants for the ticket.

JD(S) leader and former Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy said Govinda Raju was chosen as it would help organise and strengthen the party in Kolar and Chikkaballapura region.

The independent candidate who has filed his papers today is P C Krishnegowda, and the one who filed his nomination claiming to be associated with BJP is Mandikkal Nagaraja.

Comments

Francies
 - 
Sunday, 21 Jun 2020

BJP has selected the candidates based on their wealth only and not on their education.    Wealth is the primary preference for bjp and these people come to politics only to skip from tax and accumulate unaccountable money and save black money.    they never come to politics with an intention to serve public.   We cant find 1 percent of politicians who is sincere and cares for public.    All of them are selfish and look their pocket only.   This is general in all the political parties.   

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News Network
February 6,2020

Bengaluru, Feb 6: Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa inducted 10 BJP MLAs to his Cabinet here on Thursday. They are among the 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs who defected last year.

The much-delayed expansion came almost two-months after the MLAs won the bypolls held in December. During the period, the defectors camp exerted pressure on Yediyurappa to expand the Cabinet and include all the MLAs who contested the bypolls.

The new ministers sworn in are S T Somashekar, Ramesh Jarkiholi, Byrati Basavaraj, K Gopalaiah, B C Patil, Dr K Sudhakar, Shivaram Hebbar, Anand Singh, Narayana Gowda and Shrimanth Patil.

One of the 11 MLAs from the defectors camp, Mahesh Kumathalli was not inducted as he hailed from the same constituency as Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi. Three others, MTB Nagaraj, H Vishwanath and R Shankar are likely to be inducted in June.

Governor Vajubhai Bala administered oaths to the new ministers at Raj Bhavan, where hundreds of supporters came to witness the event. Authorities had also beefed up security arrangements outside Raj Bhavan for the ceremony.

Earlier, Yediyurappa was to induct 10 newly-elected MLAs and three old-timer BJP MLAs. But on Wednesday evening, the BJP's central leadership stepped in to decide that only 10 newly-elected MLAs should be inducted after disgruntlement surfaced among BJP MLAs over former minister C P Yogeeshwar's induction.

Several MLAs led by chief minister's political secretary MP Renukacharya had raised a hue and cry over allotting berths to those who lost Assembly polls. A group of 13 to 15 MLAs had also demanded adequate representation to Kalyana Karnataka region, alleging that the new Cabinet had excess representation from few districts of Karnataka, such as Bengaluru Urban and Belagavi.

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