Negotiations are ongoing for the staging of trade fairs and exhibitions in Qatar on Turkish textile and home textile goods as part of efforts to enhance Qatar-Turkey economic relations, an embassy official has said.
Speaking on the sidelines of an agreement signing between Qatar Business Women Association (QBWA) and the Turkey-based Industrialist Businesswomen and Businessmen’s Confederation (Sankon) yesterday, commercial counsellor Burak Guresci said the exhibition aims to introduce new Turkish industries to Qatar.
“We want to bring more Turkish industries to Qatar. Aside from textiles, Turkey is also an active player in Qatar’s services and construction sector. Next week, 62 Turkish companies are participating in Project Qatar 2017,” he said, adding that new Turkish restaurant chains and cafes are expected to open in Qatar.
He also noted that more Turkish meat products are expected to penetrate the Qatar market following BRF SA and the Qatar Investment Authority’s acquisition of Turkey’s biggest poultry producer, Banvit.
“We are happy that Qatar Investment Authority is a partner in the Turkish poultry sector because we believe that with this move, you will see more Turkish meat products in Qatar,” he said.
On tourism, Guresci told Gulf Times that the embassy is expecting more Qatari tourists to visit Qatar this year “following deals made between Turkish and Qatari companies in the field of health tourism.”
Last year, 32,681 Qatari nationals travelled to Turkey, according to figures released by the Turkish consulate general cultural and information office in Dubai. Guresci said Qataris visit Turkey for business, tourism, and medical tourism.
“We didn’t see a decrease in the number of Qatari nationals visiting Turkey in 2016. There is a steady increase considering that figures last year were higher compared to 2015. The situation in Turkey is better, and we anticipate further increase in Qatari tourists and other GCC nationals this year,” he said.
Guresci said the agreement signed by QBWA vice chairperson Aisha Alfardan and Sankon general president Nezaket Emine Atasoy aims to enhance business relationships between the two organisations and to promote trade and investment opportunities between Qatari and Turkish businesswomen.
He also said trade volume between the two countries “slightly dropped” to less than $1bn in 2016 due to low oil prices. “But with stable prices in both petroleum and natural gas, we expect trade volume to be over $1bn this year,” he added.