Q Life Magazine Q Magazine: A new chapter for growth | Page 10
“We look forward to doing business
together”, says His Excellency the
Prime Minister of Qatar
His Excellency Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani,
Prime Minister and Minister of Interior of the State of Qatar,
highlights Qatar’s growing economy.
I
am delighted to welcome you to the 2018 Qatar-
Germany Business and Investment Forum. I look
forward to meeting many of you personally in the
following days, and to sharing ideas and experiences.
The Forum will seek to open new markets for our
nations, showcasing the best of our economies and
furthering the partnership between us. We have much to
give, and much to learn. Being open to new ideas is of
course critical to business success.
For our part, I am pleased to say that Qatar is one
of the fastest growing economies in the world. We are
ranked second most competitive in the Arab world,
and GDP growth is expected to reach 2.8% this year,
according to figures published by the Word Bank.
The Qatar Financial Centre Authority (QFC) announced
a record growth in 2017, posting a 66% increase in new
firms being licensed year-on-year. Foreign trade growth
was up 16% last year.
We proactively work to create the best environment
possible for foreign investors, amending laws to
encourage unrestricted growth. The inauguration of
10
Hamad Port last year is a tangible example of a
dramatic improvement in cross-border trading, by
facilitating imports and exports.
While valuing traditional trade, we are also looking
towards the future. Qatar’s e-commerce market is
expected to almost triple to about € 2.8 billion by
2020. We are working on the new challenges around
this industry in terms of trust, availability and price.
Economic diversification is one of Qatar’s major
strategic priorities, and we are looking to increase the
share of the private sector in the economy, grow the
knowledge economy, and enhance productivity levels.
Manufacturing, financial services, tourism, logistics,
and information and communications have been
identified as the sectors which have the largest
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