QNA/Davos

HE the Minister of Economy and Commerce Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim al-Thani has underlined Qatar’s successful experience in supporting and activating private sector’s role in the various projects.
HE the Minister made the remarks during his participation at the World Economic Forum’s activities, which is currently held in Davos, Switzerland and will continue until today.
During an interactive session held here on Thursday under the theme “Growth of markets in the Arab world” as part of Davos’s forum activities, HE the Minister said that the cooperation between government and private sector would contribute in Qatari local market growth.
The participants discussed the political and social developments in the Arab world, the effects of rising unemployment, falling of oil prices, as well as economic implications and challenges facing the Arab economies.
He also spoke about the steps that must be taken in order to achieve growth and prosperity in the Arab world, especially with the existence of problems such as unemployment and weak of trade exchange between Arab countries, which grew from 7% to 14% in recent years but remains this figure is dwarfed by ambitions to be achieved.
HE the Minister highlighted a set of points to achieve the desired goal, which is to increase economic co-operation between the Arab countries and the restructuring of the overall economy and provide more support for the entrepreneurship sector, small and medium companies as well as to realise complementarity between trade and investment.
The Minister of Economy met Saudi Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr Tawfiq bin Fawzan al-Rabiah on Thursday to discuss bilateral relations in trade, economic and investment fields and ways of developing and taking advantage of experiences and expertise between the two countries in light of the growing trade exchange between the two countries which reached 8bn riyals. Over 388 Saudi companies are operating in the Qatari market and contributing to the Saudi capital.
Qatar’s participation in the new version of the Davos conference comes at a time of its growing economy due to results diversification of income sources policy adopted by the state and the non-oil sector continues to stimulate economic growth.
It also seeks to present its vision in the investment, economic growth as well as regional and international trade because of its of global and regional weight and in terms of earning a high level of income, low unemployment rates and transparency indicators that put Qatar at the first rank in the Arab countries.
Meanwhile, oil prices should increase to an average of $60 a barrel by the end of this year as demand from Europe increases because of economic stimulus from the European Central Bank, HE the Minister said.
While crude prices will rise, they won’t go back to $100 a barrel for two years, HE Sheikh Ahmed said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, reports Bloomberg. He expressed support for a meeting between the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries and oil producers outside the group to discuss ways bolster prices, which was suggested by Iraq’s Vice-President Ayad Allawi on January 21.
“I don’t know what will happen in the next Opec meeting, but Opec and non-Opec normally should tackle this problem,” he said in an interview yesterday. “It’s always good to have a discussion,” he said when asked about the Iraqi proposal.

HE Sheikh Ahmed: Co-operation between government and private sector would contribute in Qatari local market growth.                                            

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