Diplomatic World 67

Film city traditional Arabic Village in the Ras Brouq Resreve near Zekreet Qatar Photo: Shutterstock Qatar National Museum in Doha, Qatar Photo: Shutterstock
We cannot address the untapped potentials, before clarifying the
importance of the existent trade and investment ties between
the State of Qatar and both the Kingdom of Belgium and the
Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, which have witnessed remarkable
development in recent years. Since 2004, the level of exchange
has increased in various fields of joint cooperation. The economic
relations between the State of Qatar and Belgium were
strengthened after the conclusion of the gas agreement in 2007,
according to which the State of Qatar supplies the Kingdom of
fields, such as services, clean water technology, construction,
engineering, offshore drilling, renewable energy, transportation.
As there are Belgian companies involved in projects in the sectors
of energy, health, pharmaceutical industry, electrical equipment
and management of modern technologies in the agricultural
sector. Major Belgian companies are also executing several
projects directly related to the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022.
What about the Duchy of Luxembourg? The State of Qatar has
THE ANNUAL DOHA FORUM IS A GLOBAL
PLATFORM FOR DIALOGUE, BRINGING TOGETHER
LEADERS IN POLICY TO DISCUSS CRITICAL
CHALLENGES FACING OUR WORLD, AND TO
BUILD INNOVATIVE AND ACTION-DRIVEN
NETWORKS. WHAT WILL BE THE THEMATIC
FOCAL POINTS OF THE NEXT DOHA FORUM
TAKING PLACE IN 2022?
innovative policy aimed at saving lives and avoiding lasting damage
from this health crisis that has created an unprecedented
volatile global situation. These huge changes revealed the weaknesses
and strengths, accelerated current trends, and shifted the
balance of power.
Therefore, the forum will focus on discussing the “Transforming
for a New Era”, the exchanges will mainly cover four core areas:
geopolitical alliances and international relations; the financial
Belgium with Qatari liquefied gas. In 2019, Qatar Petroleum and
built strong relations with the Grand Duchy and, thanks to the
The Doha Forum has become a milestone in Qatar’s activity and
system and economic development; defence, cyber security and
Fluxys Belgium extended these relations by signing a long-term
similar conditions of the two countries and our respective strong
diplomacy, attracting day after day the attention of politicians,
food security; sustainability and climate change.
LNG Services Agreement for the Zeebrugge LNG terminal. Under
economies, our cooperation has been further boosted. Besides,
decision makers and opinion leaders (activists, journalists and
the agreement, Qatar subscribes unloading slots at the facility
up to 2044.
With regard to trade exchange, let me highlight the most important
exports and imports from both sides. Regarding Belgian
exports to the State of Qatar they are mainly chemicals (44.4%),
machinery (11.4%) and foodstuffs (8.7%), and in turn Belgium
imports from the State of Qatar a number of materials, especially
base metals (59.6%), chemicals (25.2%) and plastics (14.1%).
the two countries also have close partnership in the field of
global finance and investments in Islamic finance.
We can also precise that regarding trade exchange, the imported
and exported materials are similar, indeed the most important
materials that Luxembourg exports to the State of Qatar are
machinery and mechanical devices, electrical equipment and
related devices; chemical products, base metals and related
materials and plastics. From its side, Luxembourg imports mainly
academics) from all over the world. Each year, thousands of
participants and hundreds of speakers participate in this large
gathering, including high-level officials from different countries.
Thanks to the significant position it acquired, Doha Forum has
established partnerships with a large number of well-known
policy-making institutions, leaders in the process of research
and debate on global issues.
The 20th edition of the Forum, scheduled for March 2022, comes
QATAR IS IN THE MIDST OF THE IMPLEMENTA-
TION OF ITS AMBITIOUS QATAR 2030 STRATEGY
WHICH AIMS TO “TRANSFORM QATAR INTO AN
ADVANCED SOCIETY CAPABLE OF ACHIEVING
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT BY 2030. COULD
YOU OUTLINE TO OUR READERS WHAT ARE THE
MAIN PILLARS OF THIS VISION?
from Qatar base metals, machinery and mechanical devices,
at a time when the global economy tries to recover from its
Indeed, the comprehensive development vision for the State of
We are also glad to see the large number of Belgian companies
electrical equipment and related devices.
biggest shock since World War II, the COVID-19 crisis. There is a
Qatar, “Qatar National Vision 2030”, it aims, as you mentioned,
(more than 40 companies) working in Doha in a wide range of
need for leaders and policymakers to come together to develop
to transform Qatar into an advanced country capable of
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