*More than 95% of Qatar’s promised £5bn investment to the UK economy has already been committed.
The UK's plan to develop stronger trading ties, including negotiating free trade agreements (FTAs) after leaving the European Union, will create a lot of new opportunities for Qatar in various areas of co-operation, British ambassador Ajay Sharma has said.
“The UK’s priority post-Brexit will be to improve trade relations across the world, including through FTAs – with the US for example. We also want to improve our trade relationship with Qatar. Exactly what this looks like will be shaped and determined in the coming months,” the envoy told a press conference Sunday.
According to the UK embassy in Doha, the total Qatari investment into the UK (mostly London) is more than £35bn. Qatari gas exports to the UK are the source of around 15-20% of the UK’s gas needs and the UK currently has more than 600 companies registered in Qatar.
Total trade in goods and services between the two countries was £6.7bn in the year ending the third quarter (Q3) of 2019 and total UK exports to Qatar amounted to £4.3bn whilst total UK imports from Qatar were £2.4bn during the same period.
Of all UK exports to Qatar in the year ending Q2 2019, £2.6bn (63.8%) were goods and £1.5bn (36.2%) were services, whilst imports from Qatar were £2.1bn (91.3%) goods and £199m (8.7%) services. In the year ending Q3 2019, the UK had a total trade surplus of £1.9bn with Qatar.’
“Alongside World Cup 2022 and Qatar National Vision 2030, which I think really are the two pillars of the work that we do here in the embassy, of course, there are kind of a couple of areas which are also really important to the relationship and which have continued to grow and I think the first one of those I would highlight is on trade and investment,” Sharma stressed.
“Our trade and investment is now over £6bn, our trade figure including goods and services, and that is a big improvement on what it was before, and I think it just reflects the fact that Qatar and the UK have come closer together,” he noted.
The envoy said investment to the UK from Qatar has continued to grow, making the UK one of the top, if not, the top destination for Qatari investment overseas.
“What I am really been pleased about is that the investment is happening in different sectors in different parts of the UK and that is something that we would really like to encourage,” Sharma said.
He noted that in 2017, Qatar promised to invest a further £5bn pounds in the UK economy, which over 95% have already been committed in less than three years.
“That is quite a remarkable achievement,” Sharma said, stressing that this is “an indication of the great state of the relationship (between the two countries), the confidence that Qatar has in the British economy, and how Qatar keeps its commitments.”
As he expressed confidence that UK’s relationship with Qatar to grow even stronger, he said the UK government will continue to work closely and explore new opportunities and joint projects with Qatar.
“I think there will be a lot of scope in joint projects between the UK and Qatar in third countries, whether that is in the region or in Africa or elsewhere,” the envoy added.
“The UK’s priority post-Brexit will be to improve trade relations across the world, including through FTAs – with the US for example. We also want to improve our trade relationship with Qatar. Exactly what this looks like will be shaped and determined in the coming months,” the envoy told a press conference Sunday.
According to the UK embassy in Doha, the total Qatari investment into the UK (mostly London) is more than £35bn. Qatari gas exports to the UK are the source of around 15-20% of the UK’s gas needs and the UK currently has more than 600 companies registered in Qatar.
Total trade in goods and services between the two countries was £6.7bn in the year ending the third quarter (Q3) of 2019 and total UK exports to Qatar amounted to £4.3bn whilst total UK imports from Qatar were £2.4bn during the same period.
Of all UK exports to Qatar in the year ending Q2 2019, £2.6bn (63.8%) were goods and £1.5bn (36.2%) were services, whilst imports from Qatar were £2.1bn (91.3%) goods and £199m (8.7%) services. In the year ending Q3 2019, the UK had a total trade surplus of £1.9bn with Qatar.’
“Alongside World Cup 2022 and Qatar National Vision 2030, which I think really are the two pillars of the work that we do here in the embassy, of course, there are kind of a couple of areas which are also really important to the relationship and which have continued to grow and I think the first one of those I would highlight is on trade and investment,” Sharma stressed.
“Our trade and investment is now over £6bn, our trade figure including goods and services, and that is a big improvement on what it was before, and I think it just reflects the fact that Qatar and the UK have come closer together,” he noted.
The envoy said investment to the UK from Qatar has continued to grow, making the UK one of the top, if not, the top destination for Qatari investment overseas.
“What I am really been pleased about is that the investment is happening in different sectors in different parts of the UK and that is something that we would really like to encourage,” Sharma said.
He noted that in 2017, Qatar promised to invest a further £5bn pounds in the UK economy, which over 95% have already been committed in less than three years.
“That is quite a remarkable achievement,” Sharma said, stressing that this is “an indication of the great state of the relationship (between the two countries), the confidence that Qatar has in the British economy, and how Qatar keeps its commitments.”
As he expressed confidence that UK’s relationship with Qatar to grow even stronger, he said the UK government will continue to work closely and explore new opportunities and joint projects with Qatar.
“I think there will be a lot of scope in joint projects between the UK and Qatar in third countries, whether that is in the region or in Africa or elsewhere,” the envoy added.
