08/12/2016 07:48 AST
The Qatar-German Joint Economic and Trade Cooperation Committee concluded its 5th meeting yesterday in Doha. The Qatari side was chaired by the Minister of Economy and Commerce, H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani. While the German side was headed by Matthias Machnig, Deputy Minister of Economic Affairs and Energy, Germany.
The two-sides discussed a wide range of issues, including ways of expanding areas of cooperation in the field of economics, trade, and investment. Both sides agreed to take more steps to further develop the economic cooperation and increase the volume of bilateral trade.
The 5th round of the meeting coincided with the Qatar-German Business Forum yesterday, which was organised by Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA) in collaboration with the Ministry of Economy and Commerce and German Business Council—Qatar. The Forum was attended by the prominent businessmen from both sides, including the Chairman of QBA, Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, and other members of the QBA.
Addressing the forum the Minister said that the agreements and MoUs signed by both the countries cover several vital aspects, including trade exchange, which reached nearly QR9.5bn in 2015, and accordingly Germany has emerged as the 12th largest trading partners of Qatar with the share of 2.4 percent of the total value of trade exchange.
Sheikh Ahmed said that Qatar’s imports from German reached 7.5 percent of the total imports by Qatar. He also said that Qatar is looking forward to enhance investment in areas of renewable energy, information technology, digital application, to promote e-governance, and also in the field of transport and civil aviation, which will create a lot of opportunities for business and trade. He said the number of fully owned German companies operating in Qatar has reached over 27 with the combined capital of QR1.3bn. While the number of joint companies are 112 with the total capital of QR1.1bn.
These companies are working in several key projects in Qatar, including Qatar Rail, Fifa projects, trade, construction, infrastructure, communication, services among others. The Minister also noted that Qatar has developed several legislations over the past several years, which has attracted FDI from over 60 countries. The Qatari side provided detail presentations highlighting various opportunities of business and investment in Doha Metro, Fifa related projects, among others.
The Peninsula
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