Manama: France is planning to set up an institute to train police forces in Qatar, the head of the French police said.

According to Jacques Mignaux, the Director General of the French National Police, the French government has taken steps to set up a high-level institute in Qatar to provide quality training to local Ministry of Interior (MoI) officials.

The institute would meet the advanced training requirements of the country's police officials, Mignaux told Qatari daily Gulf Times.

The official who was in Doha for the eighth Milipol Qatar International Exhibition of Internal State Security, did not give a time frame for the setting up of the institute, but expressed the hope that it would become a reality ‘soon.'

Security co-operation between Qatari and French interior ministries over the last few years has helped both the countries considerably, he said.

"There could be more interaction between the interior ministries of both France and Qatar in future with the establishment of a top level training institute," he said, quoted by the Qatari daily.