‘Invest in Qatar’ meet to help spur growth

The “Invest in Qatar 2015” forum is expected to help spur economic growth by promoting investment opportunities in Qatar, an official of the Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (Goic) said.Goic secretary general Abdulaziz bin Hamad al-Ageel said the Goic-led forum, to be held on April 27 at the St Regis Hotel in Doha, will promote investment opportunities in the areas of pharmaceuticals, green building materials, recycling, petrochemicals, and aluminium.“The objective is to promote Qatar’s competitiveness in the region and globally. ‘Invest in Qatar 2015’ is an opportunity for all partners to offer support to the industrial sector in their respective fields in Qatar,” al-Ageel said.He stressed that the forum “will shed light” on the broad investment environment in Qatar, and also features a number of industrial investment opportunities in key promising industries in Qatar that were recently prepared by Goic. “Qatar has strong, promising, and encouraging economic prospects in the coming years,” he noted.According to al-Ageel, the value of local investments in joint industrial projects is valued at $29.2bn or 34% of the total cumulative investments in manufacturing industries.“As to joint Gulf factories, the share of their cumulative investments is 2.4% of the total industrial investments, while Arab non-Gulf investments are valued at about $141.5mn. Moreover, joint foreign industrial projects were valued at $16.4bn in 2014 or 20% of the total capital invested in manufacturing industries,” he said. Al-Ageel also said Qatar is witnessing “remarkable industrial growth,” accompanied with a construction boom and several key infrastructure megaprojects with big investments that were driven by the decision to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Doha.“In an effort to attract local, Gulf, and global industrial investments, Qatar offers several incentives, including preferential gas and electricity rates; customs exemptions on machinery, equipment, and industrial spare parts imports; predetermined tax cuts for corporations; customs exemptions for exports; tax-free salaries; state-of-the-art medical and education facilities and telecommunications centres,” he said. Al-Ageel said the forum also aims to encourage dialogue and discussions between industrialists, investors, and decision makers. Participants will discuss challenges and opportunities for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), and how investors and entrepreneurs can benefit from available programmes and incentives to support the industrial sector in Qatar. “In addition to that, B2B meetings will be held between technology suppliers and investors willing to implement investment opportunities. The forum will also tackle the importance of industrial subcontracting to industrial development and discuss topics like the role of economic zones in developing manufacturing industries’ supply chains and attracting foreign investments, solutions to environmental pollution caused by manufacturing industries and how to benefit from the waste recycling programme,” al-Ageel said.He added that the forum will be held in collaboration with the Ministry of Energy and Industry, Manateq, and with the participation of the Qatar Chamber and the Federation of GCC Chambers. “The patronage of HE the Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani reflects his support for economic development to achieve the Qatar National Vision 2030, which promotes the industrial sector to develop local and foreign investments,” al-Ageel said.