CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -Countries considered India’s closest include the United Arab Emirates, Russian Federation, Israel, Afghanistan, France, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and the United States.

Detailed explanation-2: -Cultural ties between India and Qatar are deep-rooted and actively nurtured by both sides. There are regular cultural exchanges between the two sides, under the provisions of the Agreement on Cultural Cooperation signed between the two sides in 2012. Qataris admire India’s cultural diversity.

Detailed explanation-3: -From US$ 200 million in 1992, bilateral merchandise trade stood at US$ 4.66 billion in 2020-21 and US$ 4.82 billion during the period April-November 2021 with the balance of trade being in India’s favor. India is Israel’s third-largest trade partner in Asia and seventh largest globally.

Detailed explanation-4: -Trade: Saudi Arabia is India’s fourth largest trade partner (after USA, China and UAE) and a major source of energy as India imports around 18% of its crude oil requirement and  22 % of its LPG requirement from the Kingdom. In FY 2021-22, bilateral trade was valued at US $42.8billion.