The Diplomatic Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed Wednesday a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the University of Houston-Clear Lake, in the presence of a number of officials. HE the Consul General of Qatar in Houston Rashid bin Abdullah al-Dehaimi and President of University of Houston-Clear Lake Dr Ira Blake signed the MoU.



The remote signing ceremony was attended by HE the Director of the Diplomatic Institute Dr Abdulaziz bin Mohamed al-Horr, in addition to the presence of the Director of the Mayor's Office of Trade and International Affairs Christopher Olson, and a number of senior members of the administrative and educational body of the university.
In a speech, Mayor of Houston Sylvester Turner praised the MoU signed between the Diplomatic Institute at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the University of Houston Clear Lake, describing it as innovative and important in Houston, which is home to more than 95 consulates. He expressed his happiness with this partnership, which would provide a lot to diplomats and students in the city, and thanked Qatar for its continuous support to the city of Houston.
For his part, the Director of the Diplomatic Institute expressed, in a speech, his happiness at participating in the signing ceremony of the MoU, and said that today is the right time more than ever for such a partnership, and that diplomacy faces many challenges in the contemporary world and is no longer limited to practice in conducting negotiations and public relations, pointing out that the Diplomatic Institute always seeks to find new programmes to sharpen the skills of Qatari diplomats. He hoped that work to implement the agreement would begin as soon as possible.
In her speech, the President of University of Houston-Clear Lake said that the institute of diplomacy at the University of Houston will be the platform to demonstrate the university's commitment to supporting the best results of co-operation and diplomatic partnership. She expressed her happiness at starting this work with the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, noting that such partnerships and providing continuous support are not new for Qatar which supported the state of Louisiana during Hurricane Katrina and the City of Houston during Hurricane Harvey.