His Excellency Mr. Sultan bin Rashid Al Khater, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce & Industry, participated in the proceedings of the 27th edition of the Partnership Summit 2021, themed ‘Partnering for Building a New World: Growth, Competitiveness, Sustainability, Technology’.
The summit, taking place over three days fromDecember 13-15, was inaugurated by H.E. Mr. Piyush Goyal, Minister of Commerce &Industry, Consumer Affairs, Food and General Distribution of the Republic of India, via video conferencing.
During his speech at the summit, H.E. Mr. Al Khater praised the close relations between Qatar and India, which were founded on solid historical roots.
India ranked as Qatar’s third trading partner during the past year, and the volume of trade exchanged between the two countries amounted to about US $9 billion during the first nine months of this year alone, H.E. Mr. Al Khater stated.
H.E. Mr. Al Khater said that Qatar was home to about 55 companies wholly-owned by the Indian side operating in the Qatari market, and more than 15,000 companies jointly-owned by the Qatari and Indian sides. Moreover, Qatar has been keen to invest in the economies of its strategic partners, especially India, H.E. Mr. Al Khater pointed out.
On the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, H.E. Mr. Al Khater shed light on the preventive and precautionary measures adopted by Qatar to increase the resilience of its economy, referring in this regard to the World Bank’s expectations in its latest reports that the Qatari economy would grow by 3% during this year, to witness an accelerated rise of 4.1% next year and 4.5% in 2023.
In terms of Qatar’s investment environment, H.E. Mr. Al Khater explained that the State had adopted a tailored approach over the years with the aim of stimulating foreign direct investment, by devising new laws and amending existing legislation in aims at contributing to the development and progressing of the business environment.
The establishment of the Investment Promotion Agency Qatar (IPA) has been one of the most prominent key developments in this regard, H.E. Mr. Al Khater said. The IPA contributes to strengthening an integrated ecosystem that would support investors throughout the process of establishing their businesses, starting from the exploration and setup to expansion with the aim to achieve their long-term objectives, H.E. Mr. Al Khater explained.
Additionally, H.E. Mr. Al Khater said that Qatarhad sought providing promising investment opportunities in many vital sectors. The State has also managed to diversify local and global supply chains rapidly over the past few years, and this has, in turn, contributed to enhancing Qatar’s economic openness to the world, and consolidating the strength and diversity of its national economy, H.E. Mr. Al Khater added.
At the conclusion of his speech, H.E. the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce &Industry invited Indian businesspeople and the private sector to benefit from the incentives and investment opportunities available in Qatar to establish joint investment projects that would serve the development orientations of the two countries, and pave the way for the Qatari and Indian private sector to expand into new markets in the region.
H.E. Mr. Al Khater also expressed his aspiration to consolidate the bonds of bilateral cooperation between the two nations by diversifying existing partnerships and establishing new ones that would contribute to shaping the two countries’ future visions, especially in the fields of technology and innovation.
Throughout its convention, the Partnership Summit 2021 features the organization of dialogue session that highlight several key issues and discuss appropriate solutions to address them, including geopolitical and strategic developments, multilateralism, international trade, economics, finance, investments, technology problems, social and cultural aspects, sustainability and ways to enhance cooperation in terms of healthcare.
The Partnership Summit has had 26 previous sessions, witnessing the participation of a number of ministers, senior officials, decisionmakers, business leaders, political leaders, investment organizations, investors and industry owners.
