Abdulla Khalifa Al Kuwari (centre), Director of Quantitative Licences and Marketing Control Department at the Ministry of Economy and Commerce; Dr Axel Wabenhorst, Australian Ambassador to Qatar, and Mohamed Althaf, Lulu Regional Director, with other offi
Doha: Lulu Group, in cooperation with the Australian Embassy, organised the Australian Festival at Lulu Hypermarkets last Thursday. Lulu Group has been conducting the Australian festival since 2018 onward.
The Ambassador of Australia to the State of Qatar, Dr Axel Wabenhorst, launched the festival at Lulu Hypermarket, Al Messila, on February 7. The festival will run until February 13. The inaugural ceremony was attended by Yara Elsergany, Azza Basha and Erin Tunks, officials from the Australian Embassy, and Mohamed Althaf, Director of Lulu Hypermarkets, and many other dignitaries from various sectors.
Dr Axel Wabenhorst in his inaugural speech commended the efforts taken by Lulu Group for highlighting and promoting Australian foods and other products in their stores.
He was highly impressed with the excellent supply chain that has made import of Australian products a reality. Dr Axel Wabenhorst also pointed out that there has been significant increase in the export of livestock, fresh food, manufactured food products, vegetables including carrots and citrus etc. from Australia to Qatar.
Children from Sherborne Qatar were present at the inaugural ceremony and offered live music performance. Live cooking sessions by a Culinary Chef from Meat Livestock Association (Australia) were also organised during the festival in each Lulu outlet.
One of major attractions of the festival was that Lulu Hypermarkets have organized to bring Live Kangaroos to the venue.
The festival showcased the major product lines that are directly being imported from Australia regularly since long time.
The important categories that are imported include fresh meat, chilled and dairy, cheese, frozen foods, olives, free-range eggs, Muesli bars, bread, varieties of milk and milk products, organic baby foods, sauce, cake mix, honey, grocery, fresh and frozen fruits and vegetables among many more.
The festival also highlighted specialties and delights such as Aussie burgers and other popular Australian dishes at the hot-food counters. Australia’s food and beverages sector spans a diverse range of capabilities, from the supply of raw ingredients, to food processing to retail sales to consumers.
Although Australian products have presence in Lulu stores for a long time, however, this promotion campaign endeavors to promote a wide range of Australian products and to augment sales by increasing the extent of imports. According to the reports available, Qatar has an Australian expatriate population of nearly 5,500 citizens working in high-ranking positions, constituting 0.21 percent of the total population.
Halal-certified food is also of growing importance to trade between Qatar and Australia, leading to the launch of specialised halal-certification bodies in Australia. These specialised governing bodies have been created to monitor, supervise and certify all products imported to the State of Qatar.
