Qatar, India seek to boost direct shipment capacity

Qatar and India are seeking to enhance the frequency of the current direct shipment as part of efforts to strengthen the economic and business relations between the two countries, it is learnt.

"To increase the frequency of the current direct shipment capacity, an exclusive session will be held on 'Doing Business in Qatar' from a logistics point of view, addressing relevant issues related to this subject," said K M Varghese, president of the India Business and Professionals Council (IBPC), which is organising the first Qatar India Business and Investment Conference (QIBIC) next week.Qatar and India are working on finding new direct shipping routes between the two historically friendly counties, he told Gulf Times in an interview.The move has come in view of the economic blockade imposed on Qatar by the siege countries and Doha had immediately reviewed and strengthened its maritime diplomacy.Ten days after the blockade, the Ministry of Transport and Communications launched a new direct maritime line between Qatar and India, India Qatar Express Service, linking Hamad Port with Mundra (Gujarat) and Nhava Sheva Port (Maharashtra).Milaha Maritime and Logistics, a subsidiary of Milaha Group, had in 2015 launched the first direct container service between Qatar and India.The non-stop service will connect Qatar’s Doha port with Nhava Sheva, also known as Jawaharlal Nehru Port, located in Mumbai. The move will further facilitate the thriving trade activities between the two countries that have witnessed a phenomenal growth in the recent years. Highlighting that India has long been, and will remain, a natural business and trade partner of Qatar; Varghese said the main objective of the conference is to kick-start a series of such events to bring experts, decision-makers and key stakeholders in wide ranging areas, both in Qatar and India, together to find the synergies to engage in the two countries.Asked about the targeted business volume, he said being the first instalment, the focus of this conference will be on expertise and technologies rather than outright investment."We believe a conducive ambience and atmosphere should be built first, between the experts, decision makers and stakeholders, to find areas of common interests before getting into the next phase of investing," he said, disclosing QIBIC to be an annual event."We do hope that later episodes will scale into a higher level of exploring business deals," he said.