By Pratap John
Chief Business Reporter

India has expressed keen interest to have an “early meeting” of the India-Qatar Business Forum, which will further strengthen the bilateral relationship between the two countries, ambassador Sanjiv Arora has said.
“We seek collaboration on all areas of mutual interest; the composition really covers a wide spectrum of sectors,” Arora told Gulf Times yesterday.
He said the forum would be a “very good platform to synergise and supplement the mechanisms already in place to expand our economic partnership.”
During the state visit of HH the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, to India in March this year, an India-Qatar Business Forum was organised with the participation of a large number of businessmen from both the countries.
He said the bilateral trade between the two countries had been growing consistently. The bilateral trade stood at $17bn in 2013-14; of which $16bn accounted for imports from Qatar.  “We would like our exports to increase and in fact there has been good growth. If you look at the figures for 2012-13, the growth in 2013-14 was as much as 45%.
“On the part of our companies, there are ongoing efforts to diversify their export volumes. For example, in the last three years, the number of companies coming for Project Qatar expo has been increasing. There was a time when no Indian company had turned up for the event.
“In 2013, some 30 Indian companies took part in the expo. And in 2014 there were 45 companies and this year as many as 60 Indian companies participated in the Project Qatar expo. While we would very much like our exports to grow further, we are glad to see the handsome growth in the bilateral trade. Qatar continues to be a vital energy partner for India.”
He said, “At both the government and business levels, we are seeing a positive reaction and expressions of interest in the ‘Make in India’ campaign launched by our Prime Minister Narendra Modi in September 2014. Also, the National Investment and Infrastructure Fund of the Government of India is an area of great promise for both sides.  “So, we are already seeing positive receptivity and interest in these proposals from the Qatari side. And we discern the volume of investments in the coming months and years are poised to grow,” ambassador Arora said.  
He said the ongoing visit of the CII delegation was within the framework of the vast potential and shared interest of both sides to further expand business and investment partnerships. CII had last sent a business delegation to Qatar in September, 2013.