DOHA: H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, the Minister of Economy and Commerce, met with a number business honchos representing top US corporations in New York yesterday, and invited them to invest in Qatar’s booming economy.
The round table meeting with the US corporate captains was held on the sidelines of the 70th UN General Assembly Meeting.
During the meeting, the Minster announced that the US is Qatar’s largest source destination of its imports of goods, which accounts for about 12 percent of the country’s total imports. As of now, a total of 59 US companies, fully owned by the Americans, are operating in Qatar.
The aim of the meeting was to discuss and explore areas of bilateral economic cooperation and mutual investment opportunities.
Present at the meeting were Chairman of Qatar Chamber, Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammad Al Thani; Dana Shell Smith, US Ambassador to Qatar; Chairman of the American Chamber of Commerce (Middle East), Kashan Joshki and a number of prominent Qatari and American businessmen. During his address at the meeting, the Minister discussed some of the important macro-economic fundamentals of the Qatari economy, highlighting its robust growth and development.
The Minister also talked about some of the promising sectors of the Qatari economy and the ‘ease of doing business’ in Qatar.
He noted that Qatar has adopted an open and flexible approach to attract foreign investments.
Sheikh Ahmed said that Qatar, by implementing the strategies laid under the ambitious Qatar National Vision 2030, has been further accentuating the process of economic diversification to reduce its dependence on hydrocarbons revenues.
Qatar is investing heavily on developing infrastructure and opening up its doors to foreign investors to invest in Qatar’s promising sectors, such as industry, agriculture, petrochemicals derivative industries, education, health, construction, real estate, and services sectors, including consultancy, IT, hotel, tourism and entertainment.
During the meeting, he also explained that foreign investors can have a share of 49 percent of the invested capital in different economic activities, but the percentage of foreign share holding can go up to hundred percent in certain areas of investment, such as agriculture, industry, health, education, tourism, sports, culture, finding and developing energy and mining businesses.
He said that foreign investors can even own real estate properties in specific areas of the country. And they can also invest in Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) and Education City without commercial restrictions.
Discussing about Qatar’s business regulatory framework, he said that Qatari laws regulating various economic activities in the country are being updated and reviewed regularly to comply with the international standards and global practices.
The Minister also highlighted that taxes and fees for establishing business in Qatar are among the lowest in the world.
The Peninsula
