Greg Hands MP
By Greg Hands MP
Qatar’s ambitious sporting vision has brought the country centre-stage in recent years. As the second biggest sporting event in the world, its not surprising that attention has centred on Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 World Cup - the first-ever in the Middle East. As the home of football, the UK will be paying particular attention to that, but as I can see on my first visit to Qatar, there’s much more to Qatar’s sporting ambitions and much more that the UK can offer in support.
Qatar’s increased sporting ambition has positioned it front and centre in the successful delivery of major global sporting events. In the last few weeks alone, we have seen Qatar host the UCI Road World Championships and the FINA swimming championships, and upcoming sporting events include 2019’s IAAF athletics World Championships. This is an exciting time for Qatar’s vision, and the UK has the opportunity to be a strategic partner to ensure all these events are as successful as possible for spectators, competitors and organisers alike.
As the UK’s International Trade Secretary, Dr Liam Fox said on his recent visit to Doha– the UK is open for business like never before and nowhere is that more true than with Qatar. UK exports to Qatar totalled £2.6bn last year, up 16% on 2014 while Qatar’s exports to the UK doubled to £2.7 bn. While our expertise and support in energy and defence has helped forge this relationship, with Shell the largest foreign investor in Qatar, the UK’s long history in sport can help grow it further. The UK has earned a great reputation for hosting iconic sporting events; from annual fixtures such as Wimbledon, horseracing at Goodwood and Ascot and the Premier League Championships, to once-in-a-lifetime experiences like the Olympic Games and rugby World Cup.
The UK has world-leading capability in delivering global sports events, and we have worked closely with other nations on this. Ever since the Sydney Games in 2000, UK firms have supplied every major overseas sporting event including Commonwealth Games and World Cups. Our track-record speaks for itself.
There are over 600 UK companies registered in Qatar and many of them are already here working on the World Cup Supply chain. We want to build further on this - sharing knowledge and expertise. I want us to be a key partner in helping Qatar deliver a successful 2022 World Cup, from infrastructure projects to security and sporting events management.
Our bilateral relationship is already very strong, but there is plenty of scope for further cooperation. And never is that truer than when it comes to delivering Qatar’s 2030 National Vision, of which Qatar’s sporting ambitions are key.
The future of the UK-Qatar relationship will be based on new partnerships across different sectors, from education to healthcare, economic diversification to energy and foreign policy to defence and security. And a partnership to help Qatar successfully deliver its sporting vision.
I hope that over the course of the coming months, we will be able to take concrete steps that show our shared commitment to this vision for an even stronger partnership between the UK and Qatar. Next year’s UK-Qatar trade and investment conference will be a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate the strengths of this partnership.
So I’m looking forward to touring some of the sites where nations will be pinning their hopes of world cup victory in 2022, and I take great pride in the fact that it will be UK companies who help make that a reality.
The writer is UK Minister of State for Trade & Investment
