Monday, 10 September 2012

DOHA: The 18-member business delegation of FICCI from India to Qatar received an overwhelming response from over 105 local companies. They discussed and exchanged valuable ideas and information about possible joint ventures. Indian is looking forward to play a significant role in Qatar's development story, the organisers said yesterday.  

The two-day visit (September 8-9) of the delegation, that concluded yesterday, was organised by Indian Business and Professional Network (IBPN) working under the aegis of Indian Embassy in Doha, Qatar.

Indian Ambassador-Designate Sanjiv Arora addressed and interacted with the delegates at a dinner reception hosted by the IBPN at Radisson Blu on Saturday. Also present at the reception were P S Sasi Kumar, First Secretary at Indian Embassy; Dr R Seetharaman, Group CEO of Doha Bank; Azim Abbas, President of IBPN, and Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Obaidly, Board Member and Secretary General-Busniess Council at Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI).

"We received more than expected response from Qatari companies and businesses. The response was so overwhelming that we had to cancel the lunch break, and the meeting continued from 9.30am to 6.30pm", Hiten Bhuta, CEO of CGS Infotech Ltd. and the head of the FICCI delegation to Qatar, told The Peninsula on the sidelines of the reception.

The delegation consisted of representatives from 16 leading Indian companies from various sectors, ranging from software, real estate, plastics, chemicals, waste water treatment and companies dealing in innovative technologies. They were here to discuss strategic partnership with potential Qatari companies.

The Indian business delegates also met with a Qatari delegation lead by senior officials of the QCCI and Qatari companies. Bhuta termed the meeting as a "great success", and assured that there will be "quick follow up" of the developments from the visit.

"About 105 local companies came to meet the Indian business delegation. Among them many were American, Turkish and Lebanese companies. We had a scheduled break for lunch from 1.30pm to 4.30pm, but due to huge response from Qatari companies, we had to cancel the lunch break and successfully accommodate all the respondents," said Abbas.  

The ambassador-designate in his address said that about a year ago, we had another visiting FICCI delegation from India, and members conducted series of meeting with their Qatari counterparts and discussed issues of mutual interests. India sees a "much heightened" role to play in Qatar.

"We are all here with a view to expand business collaboration between India and Qatar. India, the fourth largest economy in the world (in PPP terms), shares strong relationship with Qatar, and we see a vivid idea of business opportunities. In today's globalised world there are opportunities far beyond bilateral relationship; it can be trilateral, quadrilateral or even multilateral," said Arora.     He expressed his strong desire to work with the Qatari community closely to further strengthen the mutual ties.

R Seetharaman, in his speech, gave a detailed account of the outlook of Qatar economy, highlighting strong macroeconomic fundamentals. He also discussed the country's National Vision 2030 and investment opportunities in the wake of 2022 FIFA World Cup.

© The Peninsula 2012