Qatar is strongly committed to economic growth, diversification and the developing of new opportunities for international investors, said an official from Investment Promotion Agency Qatar (IPA Qatar).
There are significant growth opportunities in all sectors of the Qatari economy as the country boasts a world-class climate for business and investment, said Mr. Yanal Qatami, Senior Executive of Investor Relations at IPA Qatar.
IPA Qatar shared in a presentation the business environment in Qatar and facilities granted to investors and how IPA Qatar can help Norwegian investors during Qatar-Norway Business Meeting organized by Qatar Chamber at its headquarters. Qatar offers a top-notch education, world-class healthcare, and friendly neighborhoods for families making it an attractive home for investors.
“IPA Qatar is the International Promotion Agency formed in 2019. We are the door opener for all Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) to bring into Qatar. We try to give as much facilitation, information, and support to all foreign investors. Once we have the client engagement with potential investors, we connect them with the licensing platforms who provide 100 percent ownership.”
Citing the list of licensing platforms, Mr. Qatami noted that MoCI provides 100 percent ownership in certain sectors, the second one is Qatar Financial Center (QFC) which is for professional services and thirdly, Qatar Free Zone Authority (QFZA), they own and operate two state-of-the-art free zones which were developed in the last five years.
“We have 85 plus nationalities in Qatar and the country is the second LNG exporter with the largest reserve of natural gas. We have a very high human development index, 5.5 average GDP growth in the non-hydrocarbon sectors and we also have some certain sectors that have been developed like fintech, media, tourism, sports, and manufacturing. So, this is a very important factor for Qatar to diversify its economy which aligns with the Qatar National Vision 2030,” Mr. Qatami added.
Qatar’s export-to-import trade balance is very favorable, and there has been a significant expansion in terms of opportunities across several sectors. The last few years have seen tremendous growth in the infrastructure and logistics sector as well as, agriculture, tourism professional services, digital innovation in business, and financial services under Qatar Financial Centre (QFC).
Mr. Majed Ali Al Amari, Business Development Manager at QFC, noted that Norway’s imports from Qatar were $26.72 million in 2021 and Norway’s exports to Qatar were $151.74 million during 2021. In the year 2020 Norway exported $45.5 million to Qatar in machinery, fish, etc and there was also the recent agreement that happened recently which was the biggest investment in one single contract between Qatar and Norway.
