By Santhosh V. Perumal/Business Reporter

Qatar addressing the Qatar-Turkey business forum yesterday

Bilateral trade between Qatar and Turkey has the potential to reach $10bn in the next couple of years from its present low levels, according to Qatar-Turkey Business Forum.

“There is a need for increasing the volume of trade between the two countries. The bilateral trade has the potential to reach $10bn and it could be achieved,” Turkey’s State Minister for Foreign Trade Zafer Caglayan told the forum, which was jointly organised by Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Turkey’s Foreign Trade Office and Turkish Exporters’ Assembly (TEA).

As many as 500 businessmen from more than 260 companies, led by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan, were on a visit to Qatar. The delegation comprised several sectors such as construction, food, automotive and by-industry, chemical industry, furniture, jewellery, textile and ready-to-wear, home textile, medicine and medical equipment, machinery and contracting services.

Caglayan informed the forum that Qatar’s Prime Minster HE Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabor al-Thani had told Erdogan that Turkish companies will no longer require a local sponsor in Qatar, which was one of the many demands put forth by that country’s chamber.

Caglayan also said a joint committee has been formed to look into the issues involving the trade between the two countries and ease the bottlenecks.

Mehmet Buyukeksi, president of TEA, said long delays in getting approvals from Qatari authorities were hampering the trade, especially food products; and that the Gulf country should review the visa regulations for Turkish businessmen.

Trade volume between the two countries was worth €28mn in 2002, but had surged to €1.2bn by the end of 2008, after which it has dwindled to about €400mn in 2009.

Confirming the figures, Buyukeksi said it would want the trade to reach the pre-crisis levels and “it should be at least $4-5bn.”

Turkish premier pinned hopes that Turkish companies would be able to reap advantage from Qatar, which has won the bid for the 2022 World Cup. Turkish contracting companies have already undertaken $6.6bn worth projects in Qatar.

“When we take into consideration the $180bn investment target of Qatar in the next five years, participation of Turkish businessmen in this process is important.

“Qatar will make serious investments as it became the venue of the 2022 FIFA World Cup,” he said.

There are also reports that the bilateral relations between the two countries could improve because of a Qatar-Iraq-Turkey natural gas pipeline project, which is in its infancy.

Terming the relations between the two countries as “distinguished”, QCCI chairman Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani said the opportunity to build partnerships “is now more than ever” as the investment climate was conducive.

Making a presentation on Qatar’s banking and business insights, International Bank of Qatar (IBQ) managing director George Nasra said the Qatari lenders were well capitalised, profitable, liquid and ready to finance viable projects.

“Our affiliation with the National Bank of Kuwait, which owns 30% of IBQ and which has a noticeable footprint in Turkey, makes for a strong partnership between IBQ and existing and new Turkish companies in Qatar,” he said.

With the World Cup set to take place in 2022 and the achievement of the liquefied natural gas production milestone of 77mn tonnes, Qatar is now the fastest growing economy in the world, according to him.

“Add to this, the favourable inflation scenario, with low single-digit inflation, makes this an ideal time to launch new infrastructure projects. The pipeline for projects in Qatar is very healthy, especially outside the construction sector,” Nasra added.