Investment opportunities in Qatar have increased due to sizeable development plans the country has adopted in recent years and its commitment to diversifying away from hydrocarbons, said the Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Alan Yarrow.
He was addressing a luncheon reception arranged in his honour by the Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA).
The Lord Mayor was in Qatar to strengthen financial and bilateral ties between Qatar and the UK.
The luncheon, held at the Majlis of QBA second deputy chairman Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani al-Thani on Tuesday, was also attended by Sheriff of the City of London Fiona Adler, British ambassador Nicholas Hopton, among others.
They were joined by QBA chairman Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, QBA board members Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal al-Thani and Sheikh Mohamed bin Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, as well as Sheikh Turki bin Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, and Sheikh Jassim bin Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani.
Other QBA members in attendance included Salah Mourad, Nabil Abu Issa, Kyle Whitehill, Saud Omar al-Mana, Maqbool Habeeb Khalfan, Qatar Exchange CEO Rashid al-Mansoori, and QBA deputy general manager Sarah Abdallah.
Sheikh Faisal noted that Qatari-British business relations have strengthened significantly in recent years as a result of Qatar’s major investment in the UK.
“Qatar now offers many investment opportunities around the world as it enjoys peace and security, in addition to the ability to develop many new and modern industries alternative to oil and gas,” he said.
Sheikh Dr Khalid also expressed QBA’s “willingness to facilitate the communication” between the business communities of both countries and “readiness to co-operate” with the British private sector to promote economic interaction and trade.
He also revealed that the local private sector’s appetite to invest in the UK was reflected in the participation of more than 300 businessmen in the Qatari-British business forum held in October 2014 on the sidelines of the visit of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to the UK.

‘Qatar keen on building on £30bn UK assets’

Qatar is keen on investing further by adding more to its current £30bn investment in the UK, the British embassy said.
“With a sovereign wealth fund worth $200bn, Qatar is looking to invest further in the UK in addition to the £30bn already invested,” the embassy said in a statement.
The embassy noted that Qatar’s government-funded investment in the UK includes stakes in Sainsbury’s, Heathrow Airport Holdings (formerly BAA), the London Stock Exchange, Barclays, the US Embassy building in Grosvenor Square, and the Shard of Glass development in the City of London.
Similarly, the embassy said Qatar invested in the Olympic Park by purchasing the Athletes Village and the Shell Centre in London in 2011. Qatari Diar, the direct property investment arm of the Qatar Investment Authority, opened a London office in 2010.
In terms of UK investments in Qatar, Shell is the largest foreign investor followed by Vodafone, the embassy also said.
“UK businesses have a significant presence in the financial, business, and legal sectors such as Barclays, Clyde & Co, EY, Eversheds, HSBC, KPMG, PwC, RBS, Coutts, SNR Denton, Simmons & Simmons, and Standard Chartered,” it said.
Likewise, the embassy said the Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP) has several important collaborations with UK companies and institutions such as Imperial College London, Rolls-Royce, and Shell.
In education, Sherborne School opened its doors in September 2009 as part of Qatar’s Outstanding Schools Initiative, while University College London, the first British university to do so, has a campus inside the Education City.
Other important UK investors in Qatar include major companies in security, construction, education, retail, energy, transport, and infrastructure.
Qatar is the UK’s third largest export market in the Middle East and North Africa region after the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The value of UK goods exported to Qatar rose from £363mn in 2005 to £1.53bn in 2013, while UK exports in terms of services were an additional £649mn in 2013. The majority of Qatar’s exports to the UK are liquefied natural gas (LNG). The UK accounts for a third of Qatar’s exports to the European Union. In 2013, the embassy said Qatari exports to the UK totalled £2.8bn.

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