ID :
382433
Mon, 10/05/2015 - 00:44
Auther :

Qatar's Economy and Commerce Minister Meets Italian Businessmen, Investors

Milano, October 04 (QNA) - HE Minister of Economy and Commerce Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al-Thani met with a number of businessmen, investors and heads of major companies in Italy. During the meeting held in Milano, they discussed areas of cooperation, opportunities available for investment and ways of strengthening economic and trade cooperation between Qatar and Italy. In his speech, HE the Minister of Economy and Commerce highlighted the main Qatar economic indicators and the encouraging investment environment in the country, stressing that Qatar and Italy have distinguished and solid bilateral relations at all levels. He called for taking advantage of these relations to boost economic cooperation and increase trade exchange and strengthen cooperation in important vital sectors. Qatar, HE the Minister said, pursues bold and ambitious strategy to fully achieve its national vision after 15 years from now, calling on Italian businessmen to contribute to realizing this strategy and benefit from the advantages offered by Qatar. His Excellency said Qatar is one the fastest growing countries in the world, thanks to the investment policy which boosted the national economy status in the world, pointing out that the state provides a competitive business environment supported by a legal and legislative framework that guarantees suitable climate for companies to expand their business in the state. Qatar's policies brought a large trade surplus thanks to the rapid growth which resulted from Qatar's focus on the non-oil sectors with the trade surplus directed to support economic development, he said, pointing out these polices also focused on the promotion of foreign investment, the development of business environment, and the creation of a distinct investment climate. Regarding economic growth indicators, he said Qatar achieved significant growth in foreign trade between 2010 and 2014, noting that despite the decline in oil prices, the Qatari economy remained strong amid expectations of growth of non-oil sector in the coming years. He pointed out that the real GDP grew thanks to huge investment spending amounted to 4.1 percent in 2014, a percentage much higher than the global average which stands at 2.8 per cent on average rate, explaining that the credit for this growth goes to the non-oil sector which continued to grow significant by 11.9 percent to represent about 48.9% of the real GDP. HE Minister of Economy and Commerce Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al-Thani said that Fitch Ratings has raised the credit rating of the State of Qatar to AA, which reflects its strong position and its ability to meet the challenges arising from fluctuations in global energy markets. His Excellency praised the strong economic relations between Qatar and Italy which began in 1992, adding the trade exchange between the two countries amounted to $3.5 billion in 2014, and Qatar's exports to Italy reached $ 2 billion, of which natural gas exports represent 90 per percent, while imports from Italy to Qatar amounted to $ 1.5 billion. HE Minister of Economy and Commerce also underlined Qatar and Italy accomplishments as they signed a bilateral investment agreement and another one to prevent double taxation. They also set up a joint economic committee which will meet in Doha before the end of this year, he said, adding that this will help businessmen in both countries to build strategic partnerships, pointing to the presence of 15 fully owned Italian companies operating in Qatar, in addition to 58 joint companies owned by Italian and Qatari businessmen in the Qatari market. He hailed the recent move which reduced the tax rate on companies to 10 percent, while allowing a grace period of 6 years for investors in certain sectors, underling the advanced position occupied by the State of Qatar on the global economic competitiveness index of the World Economic Forum report. He pointed out that foreign investors can participate in all economic activities in the State of Qatar and own 49 percent of the capital invested, adding that this could rise to up to 100 percent in certain areas such as agriculture, industry, health, education, tourism, development and extraction of energy and minerals, consulting, culture, sports, and artistic and technical services. (END)

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