Invest in Qatar 2015 Forum Opens in Doha

Doha, April 28 (QNA) - Under the patronage of HE Prime Minister and Minister of Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Invest in Qatar 2015 Forum. HE Minister of Energy and Industry Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada began his keynote speech by thanking HE the Prime Minister for his interest in the forum, which reflects the state's keenness in enhancing processing industries as part of Qatar National Vision 2030, which seeks to create a suitable environment capable of attracting local, regional and foreign investments and advanced technologies in an internationally competitive open economy. His Excellency added that the State of Qatar is endeavoring to promote sustainable development under the leadership of HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani. On the event itself, HE the Minister said that Invest in Qatar 2015 is the Ministry's efforts to provide a variety of investment opportunities in order to contribute to the development of Qatars industrial sector. His Excellency added that the forum focuses in particular on small and medium enterprises. The Ministry has collaborated with the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) to introduce investment opportunities in the areas of pharmaceuticals, food industries, green building materials, recycling, petrochemicals and aluminum, in addition to sector studies, notably in the cooling and chilling sectors, two promising industrial fields reinforcing Qatars competitiveness in the region and abroad, HE the Minister added. HE Al-Sada added that when it comes to promoting investments in Qatar, the Ministry is focusing on increasing the number and diversity of products, applying the one-stop shop to facilitate investment procedures to achieve sustainable development and to provide investment opportunities for Qatari, Gulf and foreign private sectors in Qatar. His Excellency noted that the huge prospects of Qatars economy will pave the way for remarkable achievements for investment in the industrial sector. HE the Minister also highlighted that Qatar was already witnessing a significant industrial growth in general, in addition to an outstanding construction boom with several megaprojects related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. As a result, HE the Minister continued in his speech, "the Ministry of Energy and Industry will deploy all possible efforts to help SMEs and facilitate setting up new industrial projects that will contribute to the development of industrial investments in the country." His Excellency stressed on the importance of cooperation with GOIC, Manateq, QDB and other major banks and corporations to achieve that goal. For his part, Secretary-General of the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting Abdulaziz Bin Hamad Al-Ageel said that GOIC has worked on providing industrial investment opportunities ever since its establishment. The Secretary-General added that the Manufacturing Industrial Opportunities Program (MIOP) was the main tool for doing so. He noted that GOIC has prepared a number of investment opportunities to be introduced in the forum. Those opportunities are in the pharmaceuticals, food, green building materials, recycling, petrochemicals and aluminum and are worth around QR500 million. If implemented, these projects would create technical and administrative job opportunities for approximately 345 GCC citizens. The Secretary-General noted that Qatar has worked to build a wide network of relations with countries throughout the globe to guarantee their contribution to industrial and construction projects to be executed in the few coming years. (END)