The Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA) recently hosted a private business dinner in honour of Pakistan’s President, Mamnoon Hussain, and his accompanying delegation in Doha.
Held in the presence of Qatar’s ambassador to Pakistan, Saqer bin Mubarak al-Mansouri, and Pakistan ambassador Shahzad Ahmed the event aimed to discuss the existing bilateral relations and economic co-operation between the two countries
From the Qatari side, the dinner was headed by QBA chairman Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim al-Thani, board members Sheikh Nawaf bin Nasser al-Thani and Sherida al-Kaabi, as well as QBA members Nasser Suliman al-Haider and Saud al-Mana, and deputy general manager Sarah Abdullah.
Also in attendance were members of the Qatari Businesswomen Association led by vice chairwoman Aisha Alfardan and board members Awatef al-Dafaa, Natra Abdulla and Amal al-Athem.
During the event, Hussain thanked QBA members and confirmed his commitment to move bilateral relations “to new levels of co-operation.”
“Such high-level visits would definitely contribute to the development of the economic relations and open up new areas to enhance trade co-operation,” the president said, referring to the historical roots shared by both countries.
He also stressed on the importance of the exchange of official visits between both countries, particularly the visit of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani to Pakistan in 2015, in addition to several visits of Pakistani leaders to Doha.
The president also discussed administrative reforms initiated by the Pakistani government five years ago, enabling it to overcome an economic crisis.
The reforms, he said, also strengthened Pakistan’s taxation system and investment laws, as he referred to support of the International Monetary Fund. The IMF, he said, expects good potential for the economy of Pakistan with the continuation of reforms, and considered Pakistan’s current situation “a very encouraging investment environment,” especially in the energy, infrastructure and agriculture sectors
Sheikh Faisal said Pakistani presence in Qatar “reflects the depth of friendship and co-operation between the two countries.”
He also expressed the interest of the Qatari businessmen to discuss opportunities for partnership with the Pakistani side, adding that “there are discussions between the private sectors of both countries in some areas where Pakistani has rich resources including energy, labour, education, scientific research, health, tourism and culture and arts.”
The QBA said there had been a number of memoranda of understanding between Qatar and Pakistan signed in the areas of security co-operation, development of water and electric energy, culture and tourism, customs, exhibitions and legal co-operation, along with the signing of an agreement with Qatar to import 3.75mn tonnes of liquefied gas annually.
QBA also said Qatar’s exports to Pakistan reached about $220mn, consisting primarily of petrochemical and agricultural products, while the country imports from Pakistan amounted to $80mn, consisting mainly of food products like rice, milk, red meat, grain and textile, and in the past few years, imports also included the supply of some skin, paper and sports products.