British chamber offers to support Qatar SME sector

HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani met yesterday with the City of London Mayor Lord Alderman Alan Yarrow. During the meeting they discussed means of enhancing economic and investment relations between the two countries.

By Peter Alagos/Business ReporterThe newly-launched British Chamber of Commerce in Qatar (BCCQ) aims to strengthen the country’s entrepreneurship and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) sector to help Qatar diversify away from the hydrocarbon industry, the City of London’s Lord Mayor Alderman Alan Yarrow said yesterday.“While Qatar has vast resources of hydrocarbons, they’ve got to develop their other industries, particularly SMEs and entrepreneurship. Majority of companies in the UK are SMEs so we have a very strong entrepreneurial culture and we’re very big on driving forward small companies because they are the ones who employ people,” the Lord Mayor said after the official launch of the BCCQ at the HSBC Building in Doha.The Lord Mayor added that compared to large firms, entrepreneurship and SMEs have a direct role in increasing the employment statistics of countries.

HE the Minister of Economy and Commerce Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani met yesterday with the City of London Mayor Lord Alderman Alan Yarrow, and his accompanying delegation.

“And that’s what we need out here, we need better employment. So, that’s why we’ve come here to support Qatar to look at various issues where we in the UK have vast experiences that we could share with the government,” he said.This was reiterated by BCCQ managing director Peter Cook, who said that the chamber has already spoken to 35 UK-based companies that expressed interest in putting up businesses in Qatar.“Most of the companies the chamber has spoken to come from almost all sectors but they are very interested in pouring their investments here. This is also reflective of the chamber’s role in helping Qatari SMEs and entrepreneurs get in touch with their UK counterparts,” he said.The Lord Mayor added: “It could not be a better time to begin exporting and to open up new businesses with Qatar. Not only is the economy booming here, but the prospects for British firms are excellent with the most recent trade figures showing UK trade with Qatar up 40% on the previous year.”Cook said trade volume between Qatar and the UK last year has reached around $4bn, $2.5bn of which was derived from goods and another $1.5bn from services.“Establishing a British chamber in Qatar to focus on supporting UK businesses could not be more important or urgent. With the extensive backing of the British and Qatari governments and the British Chambers of Commerce in the UK, the chamber in Qatar intends to become one of the leading business support organisationsin the country.“Any UK or Qatari business, but especially SME businesses, can look forward to a new organisation focused on their needs and able to deliver a wide suite of business services to smooth and speed up their path to business success in Qatar,” Cook stressed.