Plans are in the pipeline for the staging of a series of workshops by the US-Qatar Business Council (USQBC) Doha office aimed at providing information to the Qatari private sector and its stakeholders on the investment climate and business opportunities available in the US market, a USQBC official said.
“The council’s Doha office is in full force; in the past few months, the engagement that our team there has extended to Qatari entities in both the private and public sectors has been fascinating,” USQBC managing director Mohamed Barakat told Gulf Times.
Barakat said, “Post Covid-19 or hopefully even sooner, the Doha office would organise a series of workshops, as well as engagements of the Qatari private sector, exporters, and business partners, including Qataris who want to invest in the US, so that they could meet, discuss, co-ordinate, and provide as much information as possible about the opportunities available in America.”
He said the USQBC’s headquarters in Qatar is playing a significant role in strengthening US-Qatar economic ties, including the business relations of both countries’ private sectors.
Similarly, the Doha office is advancing the USQBC’s objectives in helping Qatar’s business community understand the council’s role in advancing Qatar-US commercial and investment relationship, Barakat pointed out.
Because of the success of the third Qatar-US Strategic Dialogue, which was held last month in Washington, DC, Barakat said many US and Qatari companies are inquiring about the investment and export opportunities in both countries.
“The Doha office can link both business communities and assist them in meeting their respective interests. These planned activities would also advance the need to engage more with each other. The importance of USQBC is beyond business facilitation – the advocacy and educational part of the council is similarly important,” he noted.
In Washington, DC, Barakat said the USQBC is busy looking into joint projects with embassy officials for future events, which also include organising high-level events between the US and Qatar slated to be held next year in America.
During the third strategic dialogue, HE the Minister of Finance Ali Sherif al-Emadi announced the hosting of an investment forum as part of initiatives to strengthen investment ties between the US and Qatar.
In his speech, which was published in the website of the US Department of State, al-Emadi said: “Since the first investment forum that Qatar held in the United States in 2011, we are pleased to announce today by signing a Letter of Intent together with the Treasury Department to host again an investment forum by joining an organised Qatar in 2021. This forum will be an effective venue for strengthening investment relation between our two countries.”
Barakat said, “From a business and economic perspective, the strategic dialogue always highlights how much the relationship between the US and Qatar is expanding year-on-year. Every time, we hear new numbers and statistics.
“From two years ago, the number of US companies operating in Qatar grew from more than 600 to over 850 in 2020, which is a great number. This also reflects what Qatar is doing to promote the country as an investment destination.”
He added: “Total trade between Qatar and the US stood over $9.4bn in 2019. Qatar has already invested over $30bn in the US from the $45bn it has committed until 2024, and it’s only 2020…we keep hearing from Qatari officials that these numbers would increase.”
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