Members of the elite Qatari Businessmen Association (QBA) and other prominent business leaders held a meeting with the visiting members of the French trade delegation yesterday and discussed ways to expand cooperation in many fields, including medical care and health technologies, tourism, industry, smart city solutions, science and others in the field of innovative technology.
The QBA organized a business lunch in honor of the delegation of French businessmen from MEDEF, headed by Guillaume Pepy, Chairman of the French-Qatari Committee in MEDEF, and in the presence of the French Ambassador to Doha Frank Gillet.
From QBA, the meeting was attended by Hussein Al Fardan, QBA First Deputy and Sherida Al Kaabi, Board Member. And from QBA Members Saud Al Mana, Dr. Hussein Al Abdullah, Khalid Al Mannai, Sheikh Faisal bin Fahad and Ashraf Abu Issa, Abdul Salam Abu Issa, Maqbool Khalfan and Ihsan Al Khayami. And Youssef Al Jaidah, Chairman of Qatar Financial Center attended the Business Lunch, as well as Sarah Abdullah, QBA Deputy GM.
At the beginning of the meeting, Al Fardan welcomed the French delegation and spoke about the historical relations between Qatar and the French Republic. He also pointed to the keenness of Qatari businessmen to discuss ways of cooperation and potential investment opportunities with their French counterparts, whether in Qatar or France
For his part, the French delegation thanked QBA for this meeting and noted that the organization will conduct visits between the businessmen of both countries, to discuss means for developing the bilateral trade.
During the lunch, QBA Members talked about the economic development taking place in Qatar, stressing the role of the Qatari businessmen association in studying the investment frameworks between the two countries and how to enhance the chances of partnership and cooperation. The French side stressed the existence of broad prospects for cooperation in several promising sectors.
In addition to that, QBA members stressed that the Qatari economy is moving towards diversification according to the national strategy 2017-2022 and the Qatar National Vision 2030, highlighting the attractiveness of Doha to foreign investors, which led hundreds of trade delegations to visit during the past months.
They also stressed that the cooperation of the French and Qatari private sectors will benefit the economy of both countries because the exchange of experiences and the promotion of cooperation and joint coordination in new and innovative sectors will help both sides move forward with their strategic development plans.
It is worth noting that the employers’ organisation MEDEF, or the French business movement, is France’s largest employer union. Established in 1998, it has more than 750,000-member companies, 90 percent of which are small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Each year, MEDEF International organizes a number of French business delegations to visit different countries to promote economic relations.
The Peninsula
26/11/2018
