Minister of Commerce and Industry H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim Al Abdullah Al Thani; President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H E Ebrahim Raisi and accompanying delegation; QBA Chairman Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani and members of QBA with other dignitaries and officials during the meeting.
Doha: President of the Islamic Republic of Iran, H E Ebrahim Raisi discussed the importance of activating the Iranian Commercial House in Qatar as soon as possible, aiming to raise the trade exchange between the two countries to $1bn, as a translation of the will of the two brotherly countries.
This was announced during a special meeting organized by the Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA) with the President and the accompanying delegation on the sidelines of the visit of the Iranian delegation participating in the 6th summit of the Gas Exporting Countries Forum.
The meeting was attended by the members of the Qatari Businessmen Association headed by Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani and their counterparts from the Republic of Iran. The meeting was also attended by Minister of Commerce and Industry H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim Al Abdullah Al Thani, as well as Minister of The Iranian Foreign Ministry H E Hussain Amir Abdollahian, Minister of Industry Mines and Trade H E Seyed Reza Fatemi Amin, Head of Commercial Development Ali Reza Peyman Pak, and President of the Iranian-Qatari Joint Chamber of Commerce Adnan Musa Pour.
From the Qatari Businessmen Association, the meeting was attended by QBA Chairman Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, First Deputy to the Chairman and from QBA Board Members Hussein Al Fardan, Sherida Al Kaabi, Sheikh Nawaf bin Nasser, Saud Al Mana. Also, from QBA members: Nasser Al Haider, Khalid Al Mannai, Sheikh Muhammad bin Faisal Al Thani, Salah Al Jaidah, Nabil Abu Issa, Ashraf Abu Issa, Maqbool Khalfan, Faisal Al Mana, Ramez Al Khayyat, Haider Mashhadi, Muhammad Alhtaf, Muhammad Al Rabban, Sheikh Jassim bin Faisal Al Thani and Businessmen Ali Hassan Al Khalaf and Ahmed Al Khalaf, as well as Sarah Abdullah, Deputy General Manager also attended the meeting. During the meeting, discussions on potential ways to develop economic relations and means to overcome various obstacles in order to develop trade exchange between the two countries took place.
Minister of Commerce and Industry H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim Al Abdullah Al Thani gave a welcoming speech in which he stressed out that this meeting is the beginning of a series of meetings aimed at discussing joint projects and facing all challenges to the development of cooperation and investment between the two parties; his counterpart, Syed Reda Fatemi Amin, Iranian Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade, referred in a brief speech to the discussions that took place on the obstacles and challenges faced by businessmen in both countries with the aim of increasing cooperation and trade exchange, stressing out that His Excellency the Iranian President pays great attention to overcoming these obstacles.
Ambassador of the Islamic Republic of Iran to Qatar H E Hamid Reza Dehghani moderated the meeting. He wished that the two countries would witness more growth and development.
Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani welcomed the President and his accompanying delegation, praising the historical relations that unite the two countries, stressing out the need to work on developing them.
He said, “We know the importance of the Iranian market, which is rich in opportunities, we wish to strengthen economic relations, and we look forward to more mutual visits between businessmen in the two countries under the leadership of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani."
Hussein Al Fardan welcomed the President and the accompanying delegation, expressing his happiness with this important meeting, adding, “We look forward to your visit and hope to have an effective role in investing in the Iranian market, which is full of opportunities and capabilities in all economic sectors, and we also encourage and welcome Iranian investments in Doha”.
During this interactive session, QBA members and members of the Iranian delegation raised all the challenges affecting the increase of the bilateral trade exchange, while emphasizing the two parties’ ambitions for more investments in a variety of economic fields.
Sheikh Nawaf bin Nasser, QBA Board member, highlighted the necessity of translating the distinguished relations between the two countries into a revitalization at the commercial level to reflect the depth of relations.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Faisal, QBA member, spoke about increasing cooperation between the two parties, especially in the field of intra-tourism, as the two countries have huge potentials that can be translated into reality, especially with the Iranian team’s nomination for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Saud Al Mana also spoke about the great potentials of the two countries in the industrial field, with the availability of all aspects, especially logistics, with the presence of Hamad International Port, which is the largest in the region, and would support the increase of joint investments.
Salah Al Jaidah, welcomed the Iranian president and the accompanying delegation, noting that this visit is historic and the first of its kind for an Arab country, which confirms the depth of relations between the two countries, that must be translated at the economic level.
Nasser Al Haider spoke about the commercial relations that must be developed and the importance of searching for joint projects that benefit both parties. QBA member Mohammad Althaf, praised the role played by the Republic of Iran in its support for Qatar in recent years, especially in the food security sector.
During the meeting businessman Ali Al Khalaf presented all the problems they face in the ports, clearing export transactions, and called for alleviating and overcoming obstacles between the two countries.
Ashraf Abu Issa spoke of the need to develop economic cooperation to the retail sectors and other economic fields, because the current cooperation limited to the food field does not live up to the aspirations of the leadership of the two peoples.
President Ebrahim Raisi concluded the meeting with a word thanking Qatar and Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. He also referred to the constructive talks that took place between the two parties, which he confirmed would contribute to the development of bilateral relations, and spoke of the necessity of activating relations with neighboring countries, where there is a lot of untapped energies that must be strengthened and benefited from, whether in the areas of economic, tourism or cultural cooperation, stressing out the importance of the development of these relations now more than ever, and that the current cooperation is not sufficient and does not reflect the real capabilities of the two parties.
He also added, “With regard to businessmen and traders, there is a need to develop investment plans. We need to formulate these plans in various fields, whether in Qatar, Iran or neighboring countries.”
He also referred to the importance of activating the Iranian Commercial House in Qatar to introduce the investment opportunities in Iran and to overcome obstacles facing businessmen. The President also spoke about the importance of issuing the necessary licenses to save time for the businessmen, pointing to the fact that Minister Fetmi is taking care of this issue personally, adding during his speech the importance of raising exports between Qatar and Iran to reach one billion dollars and the trade exchange to the required level.
The President called on the two heads of the Qatari-Iranian Joint Committee, headed from the Iranian side by the Iranian Minister of Energy, to make more efforts to activate cooperation in order to achieve the desired results.
The volume of trade exchange between Qatar and Iran, according to the Planning and Statistics Authority, during the year 2021 is about QR780m, which does not reflect the level of bilateral relations between both countries.
