H E Ahmad bin Mohammed Al Sayed (third row from top, second from right), Minister of State and Chairman of the Board of Directors of QFZA and other speakers during the webinar
Doha: The Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA) organised more than 50 sectoral meetings in cooperation with the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Association (DEIK).
Yesterday’s virtual meetings by QBA with the business leaders in various key sectors in Turkey were part of the initiative of the Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA) to facilitate Qatari businessmen and their counterparts around the world in light of the current pandemic and its impact on the economic environment.
As agreed upon during the last meeting of the Turkish-Qatari joint business council last April, the sectoral meetings started with the health, medicine and food industries sectors due to their great economic importance.
The bilateral meetings were organized between the Qatari companies and their counterparts from Turkey with the participation of Qatar Free Zones Authority in the State of Qatar. Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, QBA chairman headed the meeting from the Qatari side, in the presence and special participation of H E Ahmad bin Mohammed Al Sayed, Minister of State and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Qatar Free Zones Authority.
Mansour Al Sulaitin, the Consul General of the State of Qatar in Istanbul also attended the meeting. From the Turkish side, the meeting was chaired by Bashar Orglu, President of Turkey Qatar Business Council and Nael Olbak, Chairman of the Foreign Economic Relations Association of Turkey (DEIK) in the presence of Mustafa Gokzo From QBA, the meeting was also attended by Hussein Al Fardan, QBA First Deputy; Sheikh Dr. Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani, QBA Second Deputy. QBA Board members Saud al Mana, QBA Members Khaled Al Mannai, Nabil Abu Issa, Sheikh Faisal bin Fahad, Abdulsalam Abu Issa, Abdullah Al Kubaisi, Ihsan al Khiyami; and QBA Deputy GM Sarah Abdallah also attended the meetings.
H E Ahmad bin Mohammed Al Sayed, Minister of State and Chairman of the Free Zones Authority stated the meeting allows the business leaders in both the countries to engage and to identify opportunities available through the strategic partnership between the two brotherly countries. In his welcome address, Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani emphasised the importance given by the Qatari private sector to the sectors like health, medicine and food industries..
He thanked DEIK for the support extended by it to organise the meetings, which was attended by nearly 40 Qatari companies. QBA Chairman reviewed the strength of opportunities in Qatar and the many incentives provided by the state to encourage investment, from advanced infrastructure and a favorable legislative structure and other facilities, to the most important of which is the existence of a free zone in Qatar with global standards.
The participation of the Qatar Free Zones Authority (QFZA) in the meeting comes as an affirmation of support for the continuous efforts made by the two parties to attract investors from the world to invest in the State of Qatar. The Minister elaborated on the quality of the infrastructure of the Qatar Free Zones which has now become home to some of the world’s leading companies like Google, Thales, DHL, and Microsoft.
Nael Olbak said: “The history of mankind is on the brink of unprecedented change due to the outbreak of COVID-19 and its effects. We must must work together to realise our mututal dreams.” Bashar Uroglu, head of the Turkish Qatari Business Council, welcomed all the attendees, expressing his happiness to organize this meeting between the business community of the two countries, stressing that one of the things that distinguishes this meeting, is identifying and discussing targeted and specific cooperation opportunities between the Qatari and Turkish companies in the health and food industries sectors.
Hussein Al Fardan, QBA First deputy expressed the interest of Qatari businessmen in the Turkish market and the great opportunities that exist in it and the distinction of Turkish companies and the quality of their products regionally and globally, stressing that the Qatari private sector has begun to invest in some areas in Turkey and has working groups Looking and exploring new opportunities. Sheikh Dr. Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani, QBA Second Deputy, highlighted the importance of continuing to hold this series of specialized sectoral meetings between the private sector companies in the two countries.
“It is important to include all vital economic sectors such as banking, construction and contracting sectors and others through which we can discuss more cooperation opportunities in detail”, Sheikh Dr Khalid said. Mansour Al Sulaitin, Consul General of the State of Qatar in Turkey, talked about the broad economic cooperation framework that Qatar is witnessing with Turkey.
