QNA/Doha

Qatar-Cyprus joint committee for economic and technical co-operation held its first meeting in Doha yesterday.
The meeting was chaired by HE the Minister of Economy and Commerce Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohamed al-Thani and Permanent Secretary of the Cyprus Directorate General for European Programmes George Georghiou.  
During the meeting, the committee reviewed the economic ties between both countries and ways to enhance co-operation in the areas of trade, investment, transport, agriculture and fishing, in addition to water resources, health, labour, postal services, education, and tourism.  
The two sides agreed to take steps to boost economic relations and increase trade exchange, including the flow of goods, services and investment between both states. They also reiterated the desire to further increase co-operation in activating the signed agreements and MoUs between them.      
HE the Minister of Economy and Commerce and the permanent secretary of the Cyprus directorate general for European programmes signed the minutes of the meeting.  
Qatar and Cyprus had concluded a number of trade agreements, including an agreement on economic and technical co-operation, another on promotion and protection of mutual investments, and the other on avoiding double taxation agreement. These agreements were signed in Nicosia in 2008.  
The volume of trade exchange between the State of Qatar and Cyprus was about QR38mn in 2014, while the number of joint ventures between them reached 47 companies with a total capital of QR23.9mn.