New Delhi: Amid a diplomatic standoff between Qatar and four Arab nations, the welfare of Indian workers in the gas-rich Gulf nation came up for discussion during a meeting between External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani in New Delhi on Saturday.
"Bilateral issues, including welfare of Indian workers in Qatar were discussed," he said.
There are around 630,000 expatriate Indians in Qatar, many of whom are blue collar workers in that country's construction sector.
However, Sheikh Mohamed's visit, who arrived here on Friday, assumes more significance as it comes at a time when the Gulf nation is in a nearly three-month-old diplomatic standoff with a group of four Saudi Arabia-led Arab nations.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5 charging Doha with supporting extremist organisations like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen, and interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.
To end the impasse, the four-nation group has set a list of demands that include Qatar ending support for the extremist groups, closing TV news channel Al-Jazeera, downgrading diplomatic ties with Iran and shutting down a Turkish military base it hosts.
Qatar is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which comprises of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
India is close to both Qatar, the largest gas supplier, and Saudi Arabia, one of the biggest crude oil suppliers.
In the midst of this diplomatic standoff, Qatar is wooing the West with big ticket purchases of fighter jets from the US, naval ships from Italy and Brazilian football superstar Neymar from Barcelona FC for Paris St. Germain, which the Gulf kingdom owns.
By signing a new counter-terrorism agreement with the US, Qatar also nicked President Donald Trump's initial support for the four-nation Arab group.
According to media reports, Doha is looking towards eastern Asia with its second largest bank, the Qatar Islamic Bank, raising money in Chinese Yen and Australian Dollars.
"Bilateral issues, including welfare of Indian workers in Qatar were discussed," he said.
There are around 630,000 expatriate Indians in Qatar, many of whom are blue collar workers in that country's construction sector.
Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Egypt cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar on June 5 charging Doha with supporting extremist organisations like the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen, and interfering in the internal affairs of other countries.
Advertisement
Qatar is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which comprises of Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
Advertisement
In the midst of this diplomatic standoff, Qatar is wooing the West with big ticket purchases of fighter jets from the US, naval ships from Italy and Brazilian football superstar Neymar from Barcelona FC for Paris St. Germain, which the Gulf kingdom owns.
Advertisement
According to media reports, Doha is looking towards eastern Asia with its second largest bank, the Qatar Islamic Bank, raising money in Chinese Yen and Australian Dollars.
COMMENTS
Advertisement
What Sushma Swaraj's Daughter Bansuri Swaraj Said On Dynasty Politics Charge AAP Has Become 'Kickback To Self' Party: Sushma Swaraj's Daughter Sushma Swaraj's Daughter, Bansuri Swaraj, To Make Her Poll Debut Windows Computers Lead To 'Blue Screen Of Death' Due To CrowdStrike Error In 1st Statement After Outage, CrowdStrike CEO Says... Massive Worldwide Microsoft Outage: Flights, Markets, Stock Exchange Down Woman Says Jindal Group Executive Groped Her On Flight, Naveen Jindal Reacts How World Scrambled To Deal With One Of The Biggest IT Crashes: 10 Points Fighting And Kisses: 5 Big Takeaways From Trump's Speech Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.