Aisha Alfardan, Vice-Chairwoman of Qatari Businesswomen’s Association (QBWA), with other business leaders at the ‘German-Arab Women Business Leaders Summit’ in Munich, Germany, yesterday.
DOHA: With the completion of the recently announced €10bn worth of proposed investment in Germany by Qatar over the next five years, the combined value of the country’s investment in the Europe’s largest economy will reach €35bn (about QR147bn), Aisha Alfardan, Vice-Chairwoman of Qatari Businesswomen’s Association (QBWA) noted yesterday at a forum in Germany.
The Vice-Chairwoman of the QBWA, in her address at the ‘German-Arab Women Business Leaders Summit’, which concluded yesterday in Munich, bilateral economic cooperation is likely to see a major boost in the coming years as both the countries have signed a number of agreements between the public and private sectors. These include receiving the largest cruise ships coming from Germany at the end of this year, in the framework of cooperation in the field of sea tourism.
“We are delighted that this forum comes after nearly a month of the Qatar-Germany Business Forum in Berlin, which was attended by about 1,000 businessmen and businesswomen from both the countries, in the presence of the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Chancellor Angela Merkel as one of the world’s most influential lady,” Alfardan said.
She added: “We are inviting you to visit our country to discover Qatar as a land that recognizes visitors as hosts not as tourists. Your visit to Qatar shall provide you with a full picture of the economic advancement being experienced by our country in preparation for the World Cup 2022, without being hindered by the regional variables and global economic risks.”
Highlighting the changing status of Qatari women and their contributions to the society, she said that the country has made great strides in developing and empowering Qatari women’s educational and vocational capacities and has made every possible effort to remove barriers and enhance their role at all levels and fields. This explains the high rate of economic participation of women in the labour market, which is related to the high level of educational attainment.
“The INSPECTOR Index also highlighted the superiority of Qatari women with a university education by more than 36 percent, ranking first in the world. This is an inevitable result of Qatar being ranked by the Davos World Forum as first in the Arab world and fourth in the entire world in the quality of education,” Alfardan explained.
She further noted that this has been positively reflected in the fact that women has been holding ministerial and leadership positions, and entering into new areas, such as the diplomatic corps and representation of the United Nations, military, political and parliamentary. Qatar has also supported the empowerment of women through the issuing of many laws and legislations regulating their work.
She also said that this development and empowerment did not come from a vacuum, but from the political leadership’s keenness to advance Qatari women and push them towards economic and political participation, having proved their worth and capabilities.
