The Indian Business and Professionals Council (IBPC) Qatar, in association with EEPC India, hosted a virtual technical webinar on HVAC-refrigeration on Tuesday. It was attended by more than 100 engineers.
Angeline Premalatha, Counsellor Embassy of India, was the chief guest, and Mahesh Desai, Chairman EEPC India, delivered the keynote address.
“As Qatar is a country with robust oil and natural gas reserves, Indian engineering can supply machineries related to drilling, excavation and processing of oil. Moreover, India also has the capacity to meet Qatar’s demand for heavy engineering including construction and related equipment needed to develop its infrastructure as the host of FIFA 2022,” Premalatha said.
EEPC India Chairman Mahesh Desai said, “India enjoys a trade surplus with Qatar in terms of engineering goods. Although some decline was seen in exports due to the unprecedented medical crisis from beginning of last quarter of 2019-2020, the new pandemic wave is expected to have limited impact on economic activities, and going by the current trade flow, we foresee exports of engineering goods to Qatar returning to pre-COVID level or even going higher this fiscal year.”
India’s major exports to Qatar in engineering include iron and steel products, electrical machinery and equipment, copper products, aluminum products, marine vessels and floating structures. The total trade between India and Qatar exceeded $ 12 billion in 2018-19, but then declined in subsequent years due to the pandemic. However trade has already crossed $7.5 billion in the first seven months of this fiscal year. Opening of direct shipping lines are now linking Indian ports with Qatar, raising the room for enhancing trade further. Indian engineering can also play a key role in Qatar’s National Vision 2030 that needs sizeable investments across different segments of engineering.
Ahmed Jassim Al Jolo, a guest of honour, spoke about the Indo-Qatar relations which go back more than 70 years.
Jaffer Us Sadiq, President IBPC Qatar, said India is among the top three largest export destinations for Qatar and is also among the top three sources of Qatar’s imports.
Dr Muhammad Ijaz Khan of QDC Qatar made a presentation on Construction & Standards for HVAC-R which are followed in Qatar.
Abdul Sathar, Chairman IEI Qatar Chapter and Nishikant Jumde, Sr. Jt. Director EEPC, jointly hosted the event as programme coordinators between Qatar and India respectively. Mukul Khandelwal, Chairman of Committee on Trade with GCC Countries EEPC India, gave his concluding remarks to close the
event.
IBPC hosts India-Qatar business forum on HVAC-refrigeration
January 26, 2022