Qatar-the Private Sector-Lord Mayor of The City of London’s Visit
Published 4 February 2015
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0.1 This publication was archived on 5 August 2016.
This article is no longer current. Please refer to Overseas Business Risk - Qatar.
1. Summary
Promoting the private sector, in particular SMEs, is key to Qatar’s economic diversification strategy. There are real opportunities for the UK, and the Lord Mayor’s high profile launch of the new British Chamber of Commerce in Qatar highlights UK efforts to strengthen and support bilateral business across the board. The Qatari Prime Minister, Economy Minister, and business leaders are engaged and upbeat about our close cooperation. Heavyweight competition will keep us on our toes.
2. Detail
2.1 Promoting the private sector and SMEs
Qatar’s long-term economic strategy is central to its 2030 National Vision, which aims to diversify the economy away from oil and gas and focuses on four key pillars: human, social, economic, and environmental development. Qatar has up to $220bn of investments planned to deliver the 2022 World Cup and its 2030 National Vision. Its economy grew by nearly 7% in 2014, driven mainly by rapid growth in the non-hydrocarbon sector, whose share of GDP at the end of 2014 rose to 50.7%.
The Qatari authorities have taken a number of steps over the past year to increase the role of the private sector and support SMEs. These include: the appointment in January 2015 of the Minister of Economy of Trade as the new Chairman of Qatar Exchange, integrating it more closely with the economy ministry; creating a new Qatar Exchange Venture Market, to be operational by early 2015; increasing the share that foreign investors can have in Qatari businesses from 25% to 49%; having more private sector representation on the governance boards of leading Qatari businesses; launching a new $27m Qatar Business Incubation Centre (QBIC), reportedly the largest business incubator in the MENA region; planning three new special economic zones (SEZs), the first of which will be completed in three phases over 2017-19 and the other two after 2020; and increasing funding and business support for SMEs by the Qatar Development Bank (QDB), Qatari banks, and Qatar Foundation.
2.2 Lord Mayor of the City of London’s visit
The Lord Mayor of the City of London, Alderman Alan Yarrow, visited Qatar on 27 January, accompanied by Sheriff Fiona Adler. During his short visit he: launched the new British Chamber of Commerce in Qatar (BCCQ); met the Prime Minister/Interior Minister, the Minister of Economy and Trade, and the CEO of the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC); had lunch with the Chairman, Deputy Chairman and 20 senior members of the Qatar Businessmen’s Association (QBA); and attended a networking reception with over 150 British business leaders hosted by the Qatar British Business Forum (QBBF).
The launch of the BCCQ by the Lord Mayor was a resounding success. It was attended by senior members of the Qatari and British business community and received widespread local press coverage. The BCCQ will work to strengthen business ties between UK and Qatari SME and linkages between the Chambers of Commerce networks across both countries.
The Prime Minister/Interior Minister showed keen support for using the private sector to diversify the economy away from the oil and gas. The government planned to enhance its support for Qatari SMEs and would be keen to learn from the UK. The other key area of discussion was around the introduction of vocational education and training qualifications (ETQ), on which UK support and advice was welcomed.
With the Minister of Economy and Trade, the Lord Mayor discussed support for SMEs and Islamic Finance. The Minister was confident that Qatar could ride the falling oil price, in particular by promoting the private sector. The Lord Mayor and the Minister spoke about supporting SMEs through timely payments and dispute resolution. The Lord Mayor promoted UK vocational training, including City & Guilds accreditation). The Minister was keen to follow up with the UK on Islamic Finance. He saw it as a growing market with huge opportunities but a number of challenges, including standardisation. This theme was also discussed with the CEO of the QFC as was the broadening of the range of activities and number of firms at the QFC, including many from the UK.
3. Disclaimer
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