Anisse Parker, Mayor of the City of Houston, being presented with a memento at a function in Doha recently.
DOHA: The Qatari Business-men Association recently organised a luncheon in the honour of the visit of Anisse Parker, Mayor of the City of Houston, and her accompanying business delegation, at the Four Seasons Hotel.
Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal bin Thani Al Thani, QBA board member; Sherida Saad Jubran Al Kaabi, QBA board member; and QBA members Salah Jaidah, Nasser Suleiman Haidar, Nabil Abu Issa, Maqbool Habib Khalfan, Seraj Al Baker, Abdul Salam Abu Issa and a number of businessmen from various sectors attended the function.
Parker explained the objectives of her visit to Qatar and expressed the importance of the Qatari market for the US investors, as the two countries have enjoyed strong bilateral trade and a long history of cooperation in various fields, which is clear in the recently signed Qatar Airways agreement to buy 60 aircrafts from Boeing at a cost of $11bn.
Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal said that the trade relations between the United States and Qatar have expanded rapidly over the past five years, with the volume of trade growing by more than 157 percent. The United States is also the first exporter to Qatar. The volume of imports from the US topped approximately $2.7bn for 2011, which represents 12 percent of annual Qatar’s imports.
Parker thanked Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal and the guests for hosting the event, and invited them to visit Houston, as it is full with investment opportunities in various fields.
It is worth mentioning that the volume of trade exchange between the city of Houston and Qatar has reached $260m mostly within the industrial equipment for the oil and gas industry and increased by 32 percent between 2010 and 2011.
The City of Houston is also a cultural centre and a major economic hub as it is universally known as the capital city of energy, and the city port is classified as the first in the international shipping ports in the United States. In addition the city has one of the largest Medical Centre “Texas Medical Centre” which is considered one of the largest medical research institutes in the world.
The Peninsula
