Qatar and the US further strengthened their bonds of friendship and strategic relations by signing a number of agreements and memoranda of understandings in the fields of aviation, defence and energy.
During a meeting with Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani at the White House on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump praised the strong and excellent relations between the two friendly countries, and his personal relationship with H H the Amir and underlined that H H the Amir is a real leader who is highly respected in an important part of the world.
A joint statement issued after the meeting affirmed the commitment to move ahead with the high-level strategic cooperation between the two countries.
“The United States and Qatar share a history of friendship based on common efforts and mutual respect. For decades, the bonds between our great nations have strengthened, reinforcing an increasingly close strategic and defence relationship focused on countering threats to our security, peace, and prosperity,” the statement said.
Qatar’s investments in the US are estimated at tens of billions of dollars in sectors such as technology, media, energy, real estate and others. “This year, our mutual economic partnership is estimated at $185bn, a number which we both intend to grow. This has already created more than half a million American jobs,” H H the Amir said.
Five commercial agreements were signed during H H the Amir’s visit to the US. Qatar Airways is buying five Boeing 777 freighters and large-cabin aircraft from Gulfstream Aerospace and plans to use General Electric Co jet engines to power its Boeing aircraft. Qatar Airways said that the agreements are valued at over $5bn.
The White House also said the Qatar’s Ministry of Defence will buy a missile defence system from Raytheon. In addition, Qatar Petroleum and Chevron Phillips Chemical have agreed to jointly develop a $8bn petrochemical plant on the US Gulf Coast. The new agreement will strengthen QP’s international portfolio in the US. In June 2019, QP announced a joint venture with Chevron Phillips Chemical to pursue a world-scale petrochemical plant in Qatar at the Ras Laffan Industrial City.
Leading newspapers in US too highlighted the strong and growing Qatar-US relations.
The Wall Street Journal highlighted how US President praised H H the Amir and the deals signed. Bloomberg wrote about the military cooperation between Qatar and the US. The Washington Post focused on US President’s remarks in which he said that meeting H H the Amir was “a great honour”, while the New York Times said that the US President lavished praise on H H the Amir, whom he said was another friend who knew him before he entered politics.
The visit of H H the Amir to the US and the agreements signed are a reflection of not only the strong, but rapidly growing bilateral ties.
