By Pratap John/Chief Business Reporter

Liberman: sees a great potential for trade
US-Qatar two-way trade has exceeded $1.25bn in the first quarter of 2012, said Robert W.Dunn, senior commercial officer at the US embassy in Doha.
US exports to Qatar in the first quarter totalled $965.5mn while imports to the country amounted to $287.3mn.
“We have a trade surplus of $678.2mn in our favour in the first quarter,” Dunn told Gulf Times.
Explaining why the trade surplus favoured the US, he said American exports to Qatar in energy, aviation, automobile, healthcare and infrastructure sectors had been increasing over the years. On the other hand, US really do not import a lot of energy from Qatar.
“Our companies are world leaders with proven abilities in their respective fields. Hence it is only natural these companies find success here,” Dunn said.
He said the two-way trade between the US and Qatar hovered around $4bn.
The total bilateral trade in 2011 stood at $4bn, he said. Last year, US exports to Qatar accounted for $1.2bn while imports totalled about $1.2bn, Dunn said.
Sonam Liberman, economic officer at the US embassy in Doha, said enhancing trade with the Middle East is “very important” for the United States.
“The Middle East is a growing part of the world and has a great potential for trade. Trade and economic development are important to achieve stability,” Liberman said.
On Economic Statecraft, a US policy in an “age of economic power”, Liberman said it meant both harnessing global economic forces to advance America’s foreign policy and employing the tools of foreign policy to shore up the country’s economic strength.
“Here in Qatar, we practice it every day. Expanding trade and investment not only benefits our countries economically, but also enhances our bilateral relationship,” Liberman said.
He said a key element of the US policy is to enhance “inward investments” and in that context the country has designed what is called SelectUSA.
“Our missions work with a broad range of local partners across the globe to help attract investment to the United States. We welcome our Qatari partners to join the SelectUSA project,” Liberman said.