Jaishankar Will Visit Qatar For The First Time As Foreign Minister

Jaishankar will visit Qatar for the first time as foreign minister, will leave for a two-day visit today. Foreign Minister S Jaishankar will leave for a two-day visit to Qatar today.

During his first visit to Qatar, he will meet the Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Muhammad bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani and other personalities.

The Ministry of External Affairs announced Jaishankar’s visit to this Gulf country.

The ministry said this will be Jaishankar’s first visit to Qatar as Foreign Minister and during this time he will discuss bilateral issues with his counterpart besides regional and international issues of mutual interest.

The Ministry said that during this time the Foreign Minister would also express ‘special gratitude’ to Qatar for taking care of Indian citizens in the covid-19 epidemic.

India and Qatar maintained close high-level contacts during the epidemic.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, have spoken three times over the telephone in the past few months.

The foreign minister and other cabinet ministers have also spoken with their Qatar counterparts. The ministry further said that India and Qatar have strong economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties.

Qatar hosts over seven lakh Indians. Bilateral trade stood at the US $ 10.95 billion in 2019-20. Both sides are committed to increasing bilateral cooperation in various fields including energy and investment.

EU imposes ban on Pakistan International Airlines for 3 months, causing huge losses

The European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) has extended the ban on Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) for three months, overflowing expectations of Pakistani authorities.

On Saturday, EASA informed that the GA ban on PIA will be lifted after a safety audit by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). The EASA rolled out PI flights in EU member states in July due to security concerns.

On Friday, Pakistan’s Aviation Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan told reporters that most of the concerns of the EASA regarding the process of issuing licenses to commercial pilots have been settled and the ban on PIA flights to European countries will soon be lifted.