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A series of meetings and events was held between Qatar Business Council and a number of chambers of commerce in the United States in the presence of Qatar’s Ambassador to US Mohamed bin Jaham al-Kuwari.
In his meetings Ambassador Al-Kuwari emphasised the importance of partnership between Qatar and the United States in the field of oil and gas, saying that in less than 15 years, Qatar has become the largest exporter of liquefied natural gas in the world thanks to the vision of the political leadership of the country in opening competitive environment for investment, and that through the long technical expertise of the American partner institutions such as ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips and Chevron, Qatar has been able to achieve this goal.
He added the areas of economic partnership between Qatar and US are not confined to the field of energy, but also extend to health, education and others, as Qatar is seeking to invest in US small and medium projects, particularly in the areas of technology, biotechnology, medical devices and information and communication technology, stressing the Qatari investments in the US, like the Qatari investments around the world, are characterised by political neutrality.
Regarding business opportunities the World Cup 2022 offers, Ambassador Al-Kuwari pointed out that hosting such global sport event provides an opportunity to show the capabilities of the State of Qatar. He said the investments related to this event may reach $200bn in a number of different sectors.
Ambassador Al-Kuwari said that the latest of these projects is Hamad International Airport and among other major projects that are considered pillars of the country’s economy are the Science and Technology Park, the Education City and the expansion works in transportation network. He said it is expected that by hosting the World Cup in Qatar the flow of tourists will increase to 15.9%. Hence Qatar plans to invest about $20bn in the hospitality sector.
The ambassador pointed to the classification by the World Economic Forum of the Qatari economy as the most competitive in the Middle East for three consecutive years. He said while Qatar continues to diversify its investment portfolio across the world through investments in Europe, Asia and Africa, it considers the United States as a fulcrum to enhance its economic strategy and concentrate the investment in US, starting in Washington, DC, through the project “City Center DC” which is the first Qatari investment of this size outside of the energy sector in the United States.
The Qatari ambassador added that among the manifestations of the Qatari-US partnership is the rise of US exports to Qatar in 2013 to $5bn, an increase of 38.6% from 2012.
He also confirmed that Qatar aims to work through common principles and invest in cultural, educational and development joint initiatives and programmes in co-operation with the US.
At the top of Qatar’s priorities is ensuring access to education, Ambassador Al-Kuwari said, stressing that Qatar is seeking to gain access to new educational models that can adapt to the information age. He also referred to the establishment of the Education City in Doha which would change the ways of global investment in the field of education through the creation of a huge complex which includes 11 global universities.
