The delegation will meet senior officials and businessmen in France, Germany and the UK.
The delegation is headed by QBA chairman HE Sheikh Faisal bin Qassem al-Thani and include Hussein Ibrahim Alfardan and Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani al-Thani, both deputy chairmen as well as Issa Abdulsalam Abu Issa, secretary general.
The delegation will also include QBA board members Sheikh Nawaf bin Nasser bin Khaled al-Thani, Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal al-Thani and Sherida al-Kaabi.
Other members of the delegation include QBA members Khalid al-Mannai, Saud al-Mana, Saleh al-Jaidah and Turki bin Faisal al-Thani, chairman, Al Sawari Holding.
“This tour in such a time has significance, particularly because it comes after the visit of His Highness the Emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to these countries. These countries are economically important to Qatar - be it in terms of bilateral trade or bilateral investments. The three countries hold a lion’s share of Qatari investments abroad, totalling more than $100bn” QBA said in a release yesterday.
The trade exchange between these countries and Qatar is more than $14bn annually.
Sheikh Faisal said, “Qatar has a very important and good relationship with France, Germany and the UK at all levels and various fields in the recent years. This is clear from the high level visits and cooperation and partnership agreements in all fields, in particular in economy and trade, culture, science, medicine, arts and sports.”
The visit includes working meetings with senior government officials in the three countries and representatives of the private sector with a view to further enhancing the strategic partnership that links Qatar with these major international economies in different fields.
Sheikh Faisal affirmed that the recent decision of His Highness the Emir in relation to free investment zones is very important for the country, which aims at enhancing and pushing forward the progress of the economic and investment development, achieving higher volume of benefits for both Qatari and foreign investors. “During this visit, we will explain this to our economic partners, aiming at attracting major investors in all fields, especially in value added manufacturing industry,” he said. Investments in free zones qualify for various incentives and benefits, in accordance with the Free Zones Investment Law. Importantly, all nationalities qualify for investment in the free zones.
QBA said the visit of the Qatari businessmen to major European capitals was aimed at seeking partnerships between entrepreneurs on both sides and attracting new companies to the local market.
The Qatari market has about 200 French companies, half of which are registered with 100% French capital.
The number of British companies operating in the Qatari market is 79, and these are engaged in the oil and gas, infrastructure and information technology sectors.
About 200 German companies are actively engaged in Qatar in various fields.