Qatar’s proactive policy of war on extremism and terrorism is a constructive option that addresses the social roots of the abhorrent phenomenon, said Foreign Minister H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Fighting against terrorism should not be confined to the security dimension, but also should focus on addressing economic and social causes that lead to despair and extremism, he added.
The Foreign Minister was yesterday addressing the first Ministerial meeting of the follow-up mechanism of “Tunis-2020” International Conference on Economic and Investment Support in New York.
Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani announced, during the “Tunis 2020” Conference, Qatar’s contribution with $1.25bn to support Tunisia’s economy and enhance its development path.
The Foreign Minister stressed the importance of this support in creating job opportunities for youth and contributing to solving the problem of unemployment and addressing causes that leads to violence and extremism.
Qatar Development Fund has allocated $250m as loans to support a number of important investment projects in Tunisia in some sectors including education, health and economic empowerment within the framework of the Qatari contribution, he said.
The Qatar Development Fund is currently preparing a mechanism to finance these projects and will announce the projects funded in the coming months. He noted that the Fund has financed developmental and humanitarian projects in Tunisia with more than $30m in the areas of housing and health, as well as supporting the families of martyrs.
Sheikh Mohammed said that Qatar and Tunisia have a long history of cooperation in the field of development, noting that the Qatari Friendship Fund in Tunisia has provided with development grant of $97m following its launch in 2013. It also seeks to offer job opportunities in order of help them of achieving their ambitions and to protect them from extremist ideologies. The Qatar Friendship Fund succeeded in collaboration with local partners in Tunisia since 2013 of offering more than 10,400 direct job opportunities and 265,00 indirect jobs through 3,400 small and medium companies. It seeks to offer 15,000 job opportunities for Tunisia youths by the end of 2018.
