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India on Monday said it sees no impact of the decision taken by some Gulf countries to sever diplomatic ties with Qatar, which is the country’s largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplier.
“There is no challenge arising out of this for us. This is an internal matter of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) and it has happened earlier also. Our only concern is about Indians there. We are trying to find out if any Indians are stuck there,” said External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj.
This comes after Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain and the UAE decided to cut off diplomatic ties with Qatar for allegedly supporting terrorism by allegedly backing radical Islamist groups such as ISIS and al-Qaeda.
Saudi Arabia said Qatar backs “Iranian-backed terror groups” while Qatar has said that the charges are “unjustified” and not based on facts.
The UAE and Egypt have asked Qatari diplomats and other foreign ministry officials to leave their respective countries over the next couple of days. On the other hand, Qatar Airways, the national carrier, has suspended all its flights to Saudi Arabia.
Airlines from the other GCC countries, such as Etihad and Emirates Airways, have also cancelled flights to Doha.
Bilateral trade between India and Qatar stood at $8.42 billion in 2016-17, with exports at $787.47 million, while imports stood at $7.63 billion.
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