Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud (right), Sheikh Dr Khalid bin Thani bin Abdullah Al Thani (first left), Chairman and Managing Director, QIIB and other officilas at the Qatar Chambe
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Ahmed bin Abdullah bin Zaid Al Mahmoud yesterday opened Qatar Chamber's Second SMEs Conference, which is being held under the auspices of Prime Minister and Interior Minister H E Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani.
The Deputy Prime Minister said that small and medium enterprises are major contributors to any country's economy, adding that the Turkish economy is very advanced in this area.
He added that the conference comes in the framework of the economic partnership between the Qatar and Turkey. The conference aims at exchanging experiences and expertise between the businessmen from the two countries. The two-day conference, organised by Qatar Chamber in cooperation with the Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges of Turkey (TOBB), witnessed participation of a large delegation of Turkish businessmen headed by Chairman of TOBB Rifat Hisarciklioglu. The conference aims to provide information and mechanisms for entrepreneurs, by enhancing their communication with the institutions and related agencies, as well as the promotion of entrepreneurship and stimulating the services needed to support SMEs.
Chairman of Qatar Chamber Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani, who is also Chairman of the board of Directors of ICC (International Chamber of Commerce) Qatar said SMEs play a major role in many of the leading global economies and is considered vital due to providing job opportunities, new innovations, in addition they are a model for future global companies and a catalyst for GDP growth.
He said Qatar realised the importance of this sector by modernising the legislations and initiatives to protect and develop such enterprises, and increase its contribution to the GDP.
The government has launched several programmes to enable the role of the SMEs, increase its contribution to achieve economic diversification and provide a supportive environment for these projects to execute Qatar national vision 2030.
He pointed to Qatar Development Bank's (QDB) initiatives in providing funding programmes and its strategies to help the youth and entrepreneurs to pursue the idea of SMEs, and increasing the competitiveness in creating ideas and setting up of innovative projects. He praised the efforts of Enterprise Qatar, Social Development Center, and Qatar Business Incubation in supporting SMEs, which are committed to develop the business culture in Qatar, through providing funding and training programs, in addition to facilitating entrepreneurship and development.
