Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani kicked off a visit to United Kingdom with high level meetings with leaders in London. Amir met H R H Prince Charles of Wales, the heir to the British throne, at the Clarence House in London and later at the Prime Minister’s Office at the No. 10 Downing Street, H H the Amir received a warm welcome from British Prime Minister H E Boris Johnson yesterday.
H H the Amir and H E the Prime Minister held discussions on a variety of issues, including the strong bilateral partnership, several regional and international issues which require urgent attention. The Prime Minister joined the chorus of world leaders in thanking the Amir for the fruitful mediation role Qatar played to resolve the Afghan issue and the country’s effective efforts in the evacuation of tens of thousands from Afghanistan.
The two leaders held detailed discussions on many issues such as security, energy and other points of common concern. They witnessed the singing of several agreements including a memorandum of understanding in strategic investment and another one between Qatar Energy and the British Ministry of Business and Strategic Industrial Energy on cooperation in energy field.
In a statement on H H the Amir’s visit, the UK Prime Minster said that in light of the difficult times that the world is going through, there is a lot that both countries can do together to deepen their partnership such as booting investment, diversifying energy supplies and advancing green technology.
Qatar-UK partnership covers several strategic sectors of interest to both countries such as economics, military and cooperation in international issues. Qatar is a major investor in the UK which exceeds some 40bn pounds and Qatar ranks 41 as the largest trading partner for the UK as the volume of bilateral trade amounted to 4.8bn pounds last year. After pulling out from the European Union, the UK is in the process of expanding its trade and economic relations and the country considers Qatar as one of the major trade destinations.
As the UK Prime Minister stressed, the world is turning their eyes to Qatar as a prominent player in the world arena thanks to the county’s effective diplomacy and mediation efforts in several international issues like the Afghan conflict, Sudan, Chad and Palestine issues. As the situation in Ukraine is gradually slipping out control and the need for finding a solution to the Iranian nuclear issue, the world believes that Qatar’s role will bring about a lasting resolution in these areas as the country is respected as a non-partisan player which keeps a neutral and strong relations with other countries.
