NEW DELHI, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- India and Qatar on Tuesday decided to elevate their relations to a strategic partnership, focusing on trade, energy, investments, innovation, technology, food security, culture, and people-to-people contacts.

The two sides have agreed to double their trade to 28 billion U.S. dollars in the next five years.

The two countries have signed and exchanged two Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) in New Delhi on the sidelines of the talks between Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and visiting Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, who is on a two-day visit to India.

"Qatar's sovereign wealth fund, Qatar Investment Authority currently has about 1.5 billion U.S. dollars Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in India in sectors like retail, power, IT, education, health, affordable housing, etc.," a senior official in India's foreign ministry Arun Kumar Chatterjee said.

"Both leaders today identified a number of areas in which Qatar Investment Authority can increase investments in India. This includes infrastructure, ports, shipbuilding, energy, smart cities, food parks, startups and new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, robotics and machine learning," the official said. Enditem

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