DOHA: India may have a free trade agreement (FTA) with Qatar latest by the third quarter of next year. Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal met his counterpart Sheikh Faisal bin Thani bin Faisal Al Thani in Doha on Monday and expects the terms of reference for the comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA) to be finalised “shortly”.“We discussed quickly launching FTA negotiations. As soon as the terms of reference are finalised, we have decided to fast track the same and the FTA could be in place by the third quarter of next year if not earlier. We can double trade and business from current $14 billion to $30 billion by 2030. The Amir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, and PM Modi discussed the potential of increased trade ties between the two countries earlier this year,” Goyal said.Amid trade tension with the US, India is on an FTA spree as it seeks to diversify its export basket and minimise the damage from Donald Trump’s tariff actions. India’s goods exports to Qatar in FY25 were about $1.7 billion while imports were $12.5 billion, with petroleum crude and gas products accounting for nearly 90% of the imports. Goyal said there was “tremendous potential” to increase cooperation in agricultural and food products, non-conventional, renewable energy sources, data centres and artificial intelligence and real estate. “There’s tremendous potential to look at tourism between the two countries. Then there are products like cosmetics and pharmaceuticals,” he said.“Qatar can get a lot of high-quality Indian products, given our historical and traditional relations. The future is for us to work together and expand our trade and business,” Goyal said. Qatar had earlier committed an investment of $10 billion into India. “They have already invested $4-5 billion in India. Another $1-1.5 billion is already in the pipeline where they are looking at opportunities and are in almost finalisation stage. That commitment is on track,” he added.
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