Letters of intent were signed between Qatar University president Dr Hassan al-Derham and Dassault Aviation vice president Herve Estubier, and the Ministry of Public Health’s general secretary assistant for Health Affairs Office Dr Salih al-Marri, Sanofi country chair and general manager Jean-Paul Scheuer, and French ambassador Eric Chevallier.
An agreement on training convention was signed between Alstom Transport CEO GCC Cluster Thi-Mai Tran and HEC Paris in Qatar dean M Laoucine Kerbache. The three agreements were signed in the presence of French Minister of State for Foreign Trade Matthias Fekl and QBA chairman Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani.
Speaking on the sidelines of the event, Chevallier said that the agreements are centred on education, “aimed at training people from Qatar.”
He said Dassault Aviation will support training and training costs of engineers from Qatar University, while Sanofi, the Ministry of Public Health, and the French embassy will develop a curriculum for doctors and health workers in Qatar on infectious diseases, in cooperation with Institut Pasteur.
Alstom Transport will support students and curriculum within HEC Paris in Qatar, “aimed at supporting and developing education.”
He said the training by Sanofi and Alstom Transport will be conducted in Qatar, while training with Dassault Aviation will be “partly held” in Qatar and in France.
“The agreements involve three important French companies, which are contributing to the human resources development within Qatar under the national vision 2030; and we believe that it is a very strong element of our relationship,” Chevallier said.
QBA board member Sheikh Hamad bin Faisal said in a speech that the event aims to introduce new business opportunities and strategies for attracting foreign investment to France. He also noted that the meeting will “further strengthen” bilateral economic ties between Qatar and France.
“This visit comes in line with the will of both business communities to develop mutual business relations, and the recently launched Qadran initiative is a great example. Also, this initiative aims at providing a platform and a think tank to businessmen from both France and Qatar to exchange ideas and expose business and economic opportunities in their respective markets.
“The support of both our public sectors has paved the way for this co-operation. The mutual agreements and memorandum of understanding have contributed to the flow of Qatari investments towards France, which currently represents more than €20bn. Also, France comes in the fifth position among exporters to Qatar, where the volume of trade reached €2bn in 2015,” Sheikh Hamad said.
Chevallier added: “For the moment, the most important investments from Qatar are in the real estate and hotels, mainly in Paris or the southern part of France. The idea is to diversify investments.
“We are ready to provide some proposals for our Qatari friends to invest; of course, they continue to invest in real estate and luxury hotels but also to a broad range of sectors and areas within France.”