By Peter Townson/Staff Reporter
The Australian Ambassador, Pablo King, has highlighted the importance of Qatar Airways launching its service to Perth earlier this month, claiming that the increased ease of access between Australia and Qatar should have a strong impact on business ties between the two countries.Speaking at an Iftar organised for the ANZBIQ community at the Grand Hyatt hotel, King told Gulf Times that he travelled to the Western Australian city on the inaugural flight, and described the experience as “amazing.”“This has opened up a whole new avenue of people to people relations,” he said, adding “both Western
Australia and Qatar have booming economies and these flights offer a good option for making business links.”Two-way trade between Australia and Qatar stood at A$870mn last year, which represented about a 10% increase on 2010. However, King admits that this number is still very low (the UAE conducted some A$6.3bn in the same period), and he is keen to see the trade relationship between the two countries grow.“It is a low base, but it means that there is plenty of room for growth,” he said.King said that he was pleased to see how successful Australian businesses have been in Qatar, and praised them for developing long-term relationships with local clients and contributing towards the growth of the country.The Australian community in Qatar currently stands at around 3,500 (compared to 16,000 in UAE), although King expects this number to increase as the FIFA World Cup 2022 draws nearer.Australian companies are well known for their work at major sporting events, and King expressed his excitement ahead of the London Olympics which open this weekend.“I cannot wait – having lived in London, I think this will be a fantastic games and I’m really looking forward to it,” he said, adding “from the Australian point of view, we have a strong team and we’re looking forward to seeing how they get on.”King also expressed his support for Doha’s bid host tournament in the future, saying that he is sure it will happen at some point in the coming years.The Australian ambassador for climate change, Justin Lee, has recently visited Qatar to make preparations ahead of the COP18 meeting on climate change to be held at the Qatar National Convention Center later this year. Both Lee and King expressed their excitement ahead of the event, and King spoke about the possibility of Australia and Qatar collaborating in the field of environmental issues.“Being a huge energy provider brings a new angle to these discussions,” he said, adding “I certainly hope we can work together on climate change and develop new solutions.”Australia recently introduced a carbon-pricing scheme to limit emissions, and King said that his government would be willing to share its experience of this kind of a scheme with Qatar.