She was addressing a press conference in Doha on her return from the Ecuadorian capital Quito, where she had gone to oversee the arrangements prior to the visit of His Highness the Amir.
“The visit will be remembered by the present generation of Ecuadorians as the “greatest and best ever” made by a leader from this region. I am really proud of being a facilitator to the visit of such a significantly higher level of delegation from the Arab region
to my country,” said A-Baki.
The bilateral relations between Qatar and Ecuador have grown manifold in the last few years and they are bound to grow further, said the envoy while informing that a number of agreements were inked during His Highness the Amir’s visit.
A-Baki recalled the Qatar delegation comprised seven ministers besides many other senior government officials and prominent Qatari nationals. “The visit was a historic event.”
The ambassador said the members of the delegation were happy with the outcomes of their visit and more developments are on the anvil in the bilateral relations between the two countries.
A-Baki hoped there could be direct airline connectivity between Quito and Qatar sooner than later as her country is strategically located close to the Equator and is accessible and reachable for other South
American nations.
“There were discussions to explore the possibility of operating direct flights even during the visit of the Qatari delegation in Quito,” she said while recalling that Qatar Airways has about 35 pilots from her country.
She said the introduction of direct flights to Quito would facilitate easy travel for a large number of South Americans in the neighbouring countries of Ecuador besides helping Qatar to attract several football fans during the FIFA 2022 World Cup.
The ambassador said among the agreements signed during the visit was one on twinning the cities of Doha and Quito. “Such a tie-up would facilitate more travel and movement of people between the two places and there are possibilities for further co-operation in such areas as art, culture, and heritage,” she said while informing that the former ‘key exchanging’ to ink the agreement was signed between the His Highness the Amir and Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno.
When queried about the progress in the deliberations for Qatar assisting Ecuador to build a new petroleum refinery, A-Baki said more headway would be made on the issue later this year when the protocol for protecting the investments from Qatar would be formalised by Ecuador parliament.
She said Ecuador’s refining requirements are growing as the country is now transporting the crude to other destinations for refining purposes. “The only existing refinery in Ecuador is too old and cannot handle our refining requirements on its own. Ecuador needs a larger refinery to meet its production of 550,000 barrels a day.”
The ambassador also informed that there would be more educational exchanges between students of Qatar and those in her country and an agreement to facilitate this was signed. “It would help students of both the countries understand the culture of each other better, besides assisting them to acquire skills in their respective languages”.
Answering another query, she said Ecuador is exporting some quantities of vegetables to Qatar, besides about half a million pieces of roses every month. “However, we expressed our interest to export more quantities of vegetables to this country during our discussions with the Qatari officials,” said A-Baki.
The envoy also disclosed about Ecuador’s plans to donate to Qatar some of the invaluable paintings by Oswaldo Guayasamin, one of the greatest artists of the Latin America, who passed away in 1999. Guayasamin’s paintings, focusing on the sufferings of native Ecuadorians during the Spanish conquest, are displayed at some of the major cities,
including Madrid, she said.
She remembered that during their visit to the Presidential Palace, His Highness the Amir and members of the delegation expressed their happiness at the mastery and artistry of indigenous Ecuadorians, well-known for their abilities to weave some of the world’s best shawls and hats.