DOHA: Minister of Economy and Commerce H E Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani met yesterday Dr. Peter Ramsauer, chairman of the German parliament’s Committee on Economic Cooperation and Development and president of the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and Lars-Hendrik Roller, the economic and financial advisor of German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The meetings come in the framework of the State of Qatar’s first participation in Hannover industrial fair, Hannover Messe 2018, which kicked off Tuesday in Germany.
During the meetings, the minister reviewed the ties between the State of Qatar and the Federal Republic of Germany as well as several issues related to the economic developments and joint relations between the two friendly countries and prospects of mutual cooperation, particularly in the economic, trade and investment fields, and ways of boosting and developing them.
Sheikh Ahmed touched on developments in the Qatari economy over the past few years, the advantages of the State of Qatar, which make it an attractive environment for foreign investments, as well as the incentives and legislations the state adopted. The Minister highlighted the investment opportunities available in all sectors in the State of Qatar and the initiatives launched to support the private sector, which would contribute to increasing the flow of these direct investments and attracting more German companies to the promising Qatari market as the current number of German companies does not reflect the strength and excellence of bilateral relations between the two countries.
He also highlighted the importance of the Qatari-German Business and Investment Forum, which will be held in Germany, stressing the importance of the participation small- and medium-sized enterprises and supporting them in the forum, in addition to forging several Qatari-German partnerships on all fronts as the forum will be a proper platform to learn about the available investment opportunities in Qatar and Germany and how to benefit from them.
Qatar’s Ambassador to the Federal Republic of Germany Sheikh Saud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani attended the meetings along with Federal Republic of Germany’s Ambassador to the State of Qatar, Hans-Udo Muzel.
Qatar and Germany have close economic and trade relations, reflecting positively on the volume of trade exchange between them, which amounted approximately to QR8.37bn in 2017 ($2.29bn). Germany is the 11th biggest trade partner of Qatar.
Nearly 27 companies in Qatar are 100 percent German-owned, while 112 German companies have Qatari partners. These businesses operate in the sectors of trade, construction, services, telecommunications, roads and infrastructure, medical equipment. There are about five German companies licensed under the umbrella of Qatar Financial Center.
Qatar is taking part for the first time in Hannover Messe, which takes place in Hannover from April 23 to 27. It is the world’s largest trade fair in the industrial field. The Qatari pavilion is erected over an area of 990 square meters.
Hannover Messe is the world’s largest industrial technology fair and attracts the major global manufacturing firms. The five-day event covers a wide range of issues in the industrial and information technology, industrial supply, production engineering, services, energy and environmental technology.
