Minister of Commerce and Industry H E Sheikh Faisal bin Thani Al-Thani speaking at Qatar Economic Forum: UNGA Special Edition.
Doha, Qatar: Qatar is seeking to strengthen its economy by expanding domestic production, investing in data infrastructure and attracting foreign companies, while acknowledging that regional security risks could affect investor perceptions, said Minister of Commerce and Industry, H E Sheikh Faisal bin Thani Al-Thani.
Speaking during Qatar Economic Forum: UNGA Special Edition, Powered by Bloomberg, Sheikh Faisal highlighted that Qatar did not expect the Strait of Hormuz to lose its significance, given the continued importance of maritime trade.
“Ninety percent of all shipping happens through the sea,” he said, noting that Qatar was instead focused on diversifying economic activity toward areas that do not depend on goods being transported through the strait.
The Minister also said that the country was taking a customer-driven approach to technology investments, rather than favouring particular suppliers.
He mentioned data-centre projects in the Maldives and Indonesia involving Qatar’s national data-centre champion Sintes, where two facilities were built side by side using Chinese and American technology respectively.
“The customers determine what sort of chips and what sort of racks,” Minister Faisal said, emphasising that technology requirements can differ depending on the end user.
Sheikh Faisal underscored that Qatar’s outward investments were part of a long-term strategy to develop what it calls new national champions across selected sectors.
While financial returns remain the primary consideration for investments, he said resilience was also increasingly being taken into account, particularly in areas such as food, healthcare and medical devices.
Manufacturing is another priority under Qatar’s national development strategy, with the government seeking to establish a domestic production base for goods that can be made locally.
“Qatari manufacturers had also increased exports by 12 percent,” Sheikh Faisal said. “The goal here is not to compete with the private sector, but to facilitate private-sector investment by providing a local partner for international companies seeking to establish a presence in Qatar.
Despite the regional security situation, he said that Qatar continued to see interest from international businesses.
The Minister said that more than 5,000 foreign-owned companies had been established during the previous three months, representing an increase of about 60 percent from the same period a year earlier.
He explained that discussions with international companies considering regional offices or larger operations in Qatar had continued and that none of the companies involved in recent discussions had indicated that their plans had changed.
Sheikh Faisal highlighted that four key projects, representing nearly $15bn in foreign direct investment, are under discussion, and the companies involved remained committed to proceeding.
On the other hand, Brookfield Corporation CEO, Bruce Flatt, who also spoke on the panel, said the broader Middle East and Qatar in particular had undergone significant economic development over the past two decades.
He said the region had the capital needed to make those investments and outlined that the growing emphasis on resilience would make the Middle East an important destination for long-term investment.
Flatt added that “The investments that are gonna be made over the next fifteen years are gonna be very significant. And as a result of that, it’s (Qatar) gonna be a great place to invest for a long time.”
