Qatar and the UK have decided to support small businesses in both the countries and improve access to trade financing to help exporters as part of efforts to strengthen the bilateral economic relations.
This was the outcome of the inaugural meeting of the Joint Economic and Trade Commission (Jetco) between Qatar and the UK yesterday.
The UK’s International Trade Minister Greg Hands held talks with Qatar’s Minister of Economy and Commerce HE Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani at the inaugural meeting of Jetco.
“I am delighted to be meeting with my Qatari counterparts today as we look to strengthen our trade and investment relationship, identifying opportunities for growth and breaking down barriers to trade between our nations. We are committed to building a long and fruitful trading partnership with Qatar over the coming months and years,” Hands said.
The meeting explored opportunities to strengthen and build on bilateral trade ties, following a commitment made by Qatar’s Prime Minister HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani in March to invest an additional £5bn across the UK over the next three-five years.
The talks concluded with both sides signing a statement outlining their mutual commitment to support small businesses in both countries and improve access to trade financing to help exporters.
Trade between the UK and Qatar was worth more than £5bn in 2016, with machinery, mechanical parts and precious stones and metals among the most popular UK goods exports to Qatar.
During the talks, the ministers also met the UK companies working in Qatar and looked at ways to overcome market access barriers and initiated fresh dialogues on education and technology to create significant opportunities for key UK industries.


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