India and Qatar Sign Defence Equipment Deal

India and Qatar signed an agreement to produce weapons and equipment together during the Indian Defence Minister's visit to Doha in June this year.

Website Defencenews.com says the two countries aim to increase the level of service training, military to military contacts and enable greater information sharing.

Qatar Armed Forces strategic study centre strategic adviser Abdelwahab al-Qassab says India would benefit by opening a new market for its defence industry.

"India deals with the Arab countries on equal grounds and will not tie any arms deal to political or social issues, like the Americans or Europeans often do," he says.

"I believe Qatar wants to break from the norm and open the region for new arms suppliers outside the usual Western market that has been dominating the area for a long time."