Currently, Qatar ranks second in terms of investment size at $20bn (in Turkey), said al-Kuwari on Wednesday while addressing a Turkish trade delegation led by Minister of Development Lutfi Elvan.
“These investments, which are concentrated on agriculture, tourism, real estate, and banking, are expected to grow in a few years,” said al-Kuwari, adding that the power generating project, once finalised, could place Qatar on the top of Turkey’s foreign direct investments list.
In 2015, al-Kuwari said Turkish companies secured Qatari projects worth $2.5bn.
But he added that huge government spending further provides Turkish companies “a great opportunity” to participate in infrastructure projects related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup worth $150bn.
Citing Turkey as an “important economic destination” for Qatar, al-Kuwari said trade volumes between the two countries stood at $1.3bn in 2015. “Turkey is one of the fertile areas for investments in the fields of energy, transportation, tourism, banking, and real estate, among other areas.”
“Economic and trade relations between Doha and Ankara witnessed a great development. Growth in economic cooperation between the two countries has tripled in a short period; and Turkish companies operating in Qatar have strengthened our economic partnership,” al-Kuwari said.

Turkish Minister of Development Lutfi Elvan.

During the meeting, Elvan delivered a presentation on public-private-partnership (PPP) schemes in Turkey. The minister stressed that Turkey’s PPP projects aim to help attract FDI, enhance the quality, effectiveness, and efficiency of public services, and facilitate know-how and technology transfer.
He said Turkey’s PPP models include build-operate-transfer (BOT), build-operate, build-lease-transfer (BLT), and transfer of operating rights projects. These schemes include motorway, port, airport, marina, border gate, power generation, hospital, health, and education projects.
Elvan also said Turkey has a total of 211 PPP projects with an investment value of $53bn and a project contract value of $122bn. There are 101 BOT, 5 build-operate, 18 BLT, and 87 transfer of operating rights projects in Turkey, he said.
The top PPP projects with the highest contract value are airport ($66.8bn), energy production facilities ($25bn), motorway ($13.5bn), and health facilities ($10.5bn), the minister added.
Al-Kuwari also encouraged Qatari businessmen and their Turkish counterparts to forge stronger cooperation and to take advantage of the “attractive” investment environments of both countries.