India and Qatar signed six new agreements on Monday for bilateral cooperation in different fields, including oil and gas, education, legal affairs, cultural cooperation, banking, and trade promotion, said sources in india's External Affairs Ministry. The agreements were signed in the presence of India Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and the visiting Qatar Amir Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani in New Delhi. The Amir is here on a three-day official visit. He arrived last evening. An MoU (memorandum of understanding) signed between the Oil Ministers of two countries envisages cooperation in the areas of upstream and downstream oil and gas activities. It will also encourage and promote investment and cooperation between the two sides and their respective affiliated (oil) companies said the source. An Exchange Programme in the field of education, signed on the occasion, will enable exchange materials, organization of joint conference, research and training programmes, providing scholarships for further education, and mutual assistance in the field of ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) in education. An agreement signed on legal affairs will enable exchange of experiences, information and expertise in the field of legal affairs. It will also encourage organization of scientific and training symposiums related to legal affairs, and promote exchange of delegations to familiarize with the regulations and activities of Ministers of Law and Justice of the two countries, added the sources. An agreement on cultural cooperation will enhance co-operation in the field of art and culture by way of consolidation of co-operation between their cultural and artistic institutions, encourage participation in international seminars. An MoU signed between the two nations' central banks- Reserve Bank of India and the Qatar Central Bank, will establish an arrangement for sharing of supervisory information and enhancing cooperation in the area of banking supervision. Similarly, an MoU signed for trade promotion aims at marketing and promotion of the products of both the countries and organization of mutual exhibition and cooperation between the private sectors, according to KUNA.
