Cheremin Sergey, (third right), Minister of Moscow Government, Head of the Department for External Economic and International Relation of Moscow with his accompanying delegates at Qatar Chamber yesterday. Pic: Abdul Basit/The Peninsula
With the completion of the multi-billion dollar Hamad Port project, Doha and Moscow are now working closely to transform Qatar as a regional hub for food grain supply-chain in the Middle East and North Africa (Mena) region, said a top official of Qatari Chamber (QC) here yesterday.
Mohammed bin Ahmed bin Tawar Al Kuwari, Vice-Chairman of QC, talking to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting with high level Russian trade mission, said: “We are organizing a company for Russian and Qatari businessmen, as part of a strategic proposal, to expand and deepen bilateral trade and cooperation in a wide range of areas, which include ensuring food security in Qatar and the entire region.”
Al Kuwari, who is also a prominent businessman, added: “Under the strategic proposal we intend to be a major hub for food grain importing from Russia, which is very strong in grains production, both for human and livestock consumption. The huge facilities at Hamad Port, will be used to import, storage and re-export grains to other countries in the Mena region.”
Both the energy-rich countries are exploring areas for mutual cooperation to further expanding and deepening the level of trade and investment. The visit of the Emir, H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani to Russia in January this year, is being considered as a major breakthrough with regard to enhancing bilateral relations.
The visiting Minister of Moscow Government and Head of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of Moscow, Cheremin Sergey Yevgenievich, who is here with a 14-member delegation consisting of senior government officials and business executives, gave a detailed presentation to the Qatari businessmen at the QC headquarters.
During his detailed presentation, he highlighted the huge investment opportunities in Moocow’s promising sectors, including real estate, infrastructure development, transport, healthcare, hospitality, insurance, finance, banking and equity market.
“Moscow is one of the best destinations for foreign direct investment (FDI). Nearly 50 percent of Russia’s total FDI comes to Moscow. We pay high attention to the development and maintenance of infrastructure, transport, and technological parks, which may be of the great importance for the Qatari investors,” said Minister Cheremin.
Cheremin further said: “Moscow’s budget is stable, we do not have deficit. Recently it paid the highest dividend across the Europe… We have earmarked a budget of nearly $27bn for healthcare related activities. We are reconstructing all the clinics and replacing medical equipment. We have huge network of subways and over 100km of Metro line with 48 new stations under construction. In addition, we also have 170 major transport hubs planned to be build.”
The Qatar-Russia bilateral trade volume witnessed a steady growth over the past several years to reach $137.4m in 2014, the highest since 2011 when the trade volume stood at $70.04m. However, the two-way trade in 2015 declined to $111.3m, understandably due to economic slowdown and decline in the prices of traded items. The trade balance has been traditionally in favour of Russia, which was $90.1m in 2015. Russia’s trade surplus with Qatar peaked to $100m in 2013 when the bilateral trade volume stood at $131.8m.
