Azerbaijan eyes Qatar investment inflows to agriculture, tourism

Azerbaijan is keen to develop cooperation ties with Qatar in a range of sectors, particularly in agriculture and tourism, the president of Azerbaijan Export & Investment Promotion Foundation (Azpromo) has said.
Rufat Mammadov said an Azerbaijan trade delegation composed of 25 companies has accompanied President Ilham Aliyev, who is in Qatar to enhance strategic partnership between the two countries.
Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of a networking meeting with officials of the Qatar Chamber yesterday, Mammadov said the trade delegation met with the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) and presented investment opportunities in several areas.
“We had meetings with Qatar Investment Authority and we invited them to consider the investment projects in different fields of businesses in Azerbaijan. We have given presentations of our projects where we would like to attract their attention.”
He said the QIA expressed interest to invest in Azerbaijan in such sectors as petrochemicals, real estate, construction, agriculture, tourism, and food industry.
“It is early to talk of specific interests but the fact that they already met us and they will study the project proposals and feasibility studies that we have presented to them, shows that they are interested in Azerbaijan,” Mammadov pointed out.
At Qatar Chamber, Mammdov said Azerbaijan companies held individual meetings with their potential counterparts and partners in Qatar “in different fields of activities.”
“The focus on the meeting with Qatar Chamber is to expand our direct contacts to the Qatari business community, which is very important. Without direct contacts, you cannot do business,” he said.
Mammadov told Gulf Times “there is an interest” from Qatar Airways to increase the frequency of direct flights between Qatar and Azerbaijan from 11 to 14 per week. “There are also discussions on the possibility to organise a direct flight to Qatar operated by our national carrier, Azerbaijan Airlines.”
In a welcome speech, Qatar Chamber vice chairman Mohamed bin Towar al-Kuwari said, “Nowadays, Qatar is a steadily developing country that pays great attention to the diversification of the economy and holds legislative reforms with the aim of business development, which created good opportunities for foreign investments and attracted investors from all over the world.
“Furthermore, the mega projects which are being implemented here for infrastructure development and the preparations of the 2022 FIFA World Cup open wide opportunities for Qatari companies to exchange experience and partnerships with their foreign counterparts. Qatar Chamber strongly supports the cooperation between Qatar and Azerbaijani companies in this regard.” Page 16

Qatar trade surplus jumps 62% in January to QR10.98bn
By Santhosh V Perumal
Business Reporter
Oil producers’ deal to cut output, effective from the beginning of this year, and the resultant price gains were seen favourable to Qatar, whose trade surplus jumped more than 62% month-on-month in January to QR10.98bn, which was up 2% year-on-year.
Japan, South Korea, India, China and the UAE were among the largest export markets for Qatar; while imports mainly came from China, the US, the UAE, Germany and Japan in January 2017, said the figures released by the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics.
Higher exports (especially non-crude, crude and petroleum gases) and lower imports (mainly motor cars) had resulted in Qatar’s month-on-month gain in trade surplus; while on a yearly basis, imports grew faster than exports.
A robust expansion in shipments to Japan, the UAE and South Korea led Qatar’s total exports (valued free-on-board) surge 16.2% month-on-month to QR20.31bn, which was up 5.3% on a yearly basis.
The country’s total exports of domestic products increased 11.8% month-on-month to QR18.94bn in January 2017, up 1.9% on a yearly basis.
Qatar’s exports of non-crude rose faster month-on-month at 57.4% to QR1.23bn, crude by 48.2% to QR2.38bn and petroleum gases and other gaseous hydrocarbons by 13.7% to QR13.27bn; whereas those of other commodities shrank 28.4% to QR2.07bn.
Against January 2016 levels, Qatar’s exports of crude and other commodities plummeted 29.8% and 13.9%; while those of non-crude and petroleum gases shot up 30.9% and 11.9% respectively.
Petroleum gases constituted 70.06% of total exports of domestic products in January 2017 compared to 68.89% a year-ago period; crude 12.57% (9.45%), non-crude 6.49% (4.6%) and other commodities 10.93% (17%).
On exports destinations, Japan accounted for 22% of total exports from Qatar in January 2017; followed by South Korea 17%, India 12%, China 11% and the UAE 8%.
Qatar’s exports to Singapore grew 32.34% month-to-month to QR4.42bn, the UAE by 25.2% to QR1.54bn, South Korea by 13.92% to QR3.52bn and India by 6.61% to QR2.42bn; whereas those to China fell 5.29% to QR2.15bn.
Against January 2016 levels, Qatar’s exports to China, the UAE, Japan and South Korea had expanded 43.33%, 36.28%, 31.16% and 19.73% respectively; while those to India shrank 9.7%.
The country’s re-exports were valued at QR1.37bn in January 2017, a 156% month-on-month surge and 94.7% increase year-on-year.
Qatar’s total imports (valued at cost insurance and freight) declined 12.9% month-on-month to QR9.33bn in January 2017, which however showed 9.1% growth on a yearly basis.
China accounted for 14% of Qatar’s imports in January 2017, followed by the US (12%), the UAE (10%), and Germany and Japan (6% each).
On a monthly basis, Qatar’s imports from the US and the UAE shrank 6.74% and 6.13% to QR1.08bn and QR0.9bn respectively; whereas shipments from China expanded 53.83% to QR1.27bn, Germany by 18.31% to QR0.6bn and Japan by 5.5% to QR0.56bn.
Against January 2016 levels, shipments from Germany, Japan and the US plummeted 46.77%, 23.63% and 16.68%; while those towards the UAE and China increased 14% and 4.8% respectively.
Motor cars, electrical apparatus for line telephony and structures (iron or steel) comprised the main components in Qatar’s import basket in January 2017.
The imports of motor cars shrank 27.8% month-on-month to QR0.65bn and other commodities by 12.3% to QR8.21bn; while those of structures had risen 7.2% to QR0.15bn and electrical apparatus by 3.8% to QR0.32bn.