- Engagement with Taliban needed despite 'disappointing' actions: Sheikh Mohamed
This year's forum is held under the theme 'Cooperation in a Fragmented World' with the participation of a number of ministers of economy and commerce, ministers of finance, economic leaders, executive directors, corporate CEOs, entrepreneurs, social influencers, experts, and academics.
The forum's agenda includes a number of plenary sessions on various topics ranging from geopolitical crises, globalisation, development, economic innovation, green technologies, and efforts to promote diversity. It will also witness a large number of private meetings, as well as seminars, lectures, and interviews that focus on finding solutions to problems and challenges facing the world and ways to increase cooperation between the public and private sectors to confront them.
In recent years, Qatar has made these global issues a priority, investing in new technologies and participating in international forums such as the World Economic Forum, which is a strategic partner of the Doha Forum to promote new ideas and ways of cooperation.
HE the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs will participate in a discussion session on geopolitical changes in the world, where he will emphasise the role of Qatar as a reliable international partner in the fields of development, international peace, and security.
The delegation will also review Qatar's efforts to diversify its economy, enhance the attractiveness of its business environment, and underline its global role in energy security and its FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 legacy. The delegation will also discuss the most prominent regional and international challenges and ways to enhance multilateral cooperation to address them.
This year's forum is the first to be held as usual in mid-January since the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
In an interview with CNBC Middle East on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, HE Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al- Thani said Qatar would stand with Afghan women as they continue to face irrational restrictions by the Taliban-led administration.
Doha News quoted the minister as saying in the interview that Qatar has been reaching out to the interim government to understand the rationale behind the restrictive policies towards women and girls.
The top diplomat said Doha cannot see such policies rationalised from either a religious or cultural perspective, and confirmed his country is currently involved in consultations with other Muslim nations to “deal” with the situation.
Speaking at a panel at the WEF, HE Sheikh Mohamed expressed his disappointment over the Taliban’s decision while stressing the need to maintain dialogue, Doha News said.
“We’ve been trying even to reach out to Kandahar and to have a dialogue with them, until now we didn’t succeed but we are in continuous consultation with other countries in the region, some Muslim countries,” Sheikh Mohamed said.
Commenting on the agreement reached between the Taliban and the others, HE Sheikh Mohammed told the panel it cannot be expected to bring immediate peace, stressing that Afghanistan has been through decades of war.
“It’s a difficult journey to bring parties with disagreements together to reach an agreement, but it’s also more difficult to sustain the agreement,” he said.
