Doha, Qatar: Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani chaired a meeting of the Cabinet yesterday, approving the draft third National Development Strategy (NDS3) for 2024-2030.
NDS3 is the final stage on the path to achieving the goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030, which aims to transform Qatar into an advanced state capable of achieving sustainable development and ensuring the continuation of a decent life for its people for generations to come, through four basic pillars that include human, social, economic, and environmental development.
At a press conference yesterday, Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Ibrahim bin Ali bin Issa Al Hassan Al Mohannadi reviewed results of the Cabinet’s discussion of the NDS3 (2024-2030), which aims to continue readiness to face challenges and guide Qatar toward moving to the ranks of developed countries by 2030. He said the strategy would give priority to competitiveness, enhancing innovation, and supporting institutional excellence while achieving a balance between sustainable growth and social cohesion according to national results.
He said Qatar is working to accelerate the pace of economic growth at an average annual growth rate of 4 percent until 2030 by expanding gas production and accelerating the growth of activities related to economic diversification, as the economic diversification agenda aims to make Qatar among the top 10 destinations in the world for investors and companies to create specialised economic clusters and to build a vital innovation system that relies on the private sector.
He added that Qatar would also focus on increasing workforce productivity by 2 percent annually to enhance economic growth and create jobs that require highly experienced skills and higher wages while maintaining a sustainable rate of population growth that does not create challenges to the social structure or infrastructure.
He explained that one of the significant main elements of the economic development model in the NDS3 is developing the government’s role to enable the private sector to lead and drive economic growth and concentrate efforts on highly productive, specialised, and competitive economic clusters instead of developing isolated sectoral policies, in addition to adopting bold and fast reforms in the business environment instead of adopting incremental improvements, as well as encouraging the active participation of leading national companies, as well as the Qatar Investment Authority in developing economic diversification clusters and supporting qualitative innovations that are mainly led by the business sector.
With regard to financial sustainability, the Minister of Justice and Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs said the strategy aims to prepare a framework for medium-term public budgets that are more sustainable and able to handle surprises, where it is financed from diverse and stable revenue sources, in addition to access to a flexible balance sheet characterised by healthy levels of debt, as well as an increased contribution of non-hydrocarbon sectors to government revenues. He said Qatar also seeks to maintain the sustainability of the general budget, reduce the negative effects of economic fluctuations, and enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of government spending. To achieve this goal, Qatar has adopted a medium-term budget framework based on programmes and will develop the government procurement process and institutionalise harmonisation processes between planning and budget preparation processes, in addition to managing the public debt system, including emergency liabilities, to create sufficient financial space that can be resorted to during periods of economic recession.
As Qatar seeks to build a workforce that is ready for the job market and is competitive in light of the changing pace of global markets, Al Mohannadi said several steps will be implemented to raise the level of the required workforce, including raising the proportion of skilled workers out of the total workforce to 46 percent by improving the recruitment policy to enhance the ability to attract highly skilled people, applying new methods of work, adopting a new performance management system in civil service institutions, and implementing skills-building programmes in government institutions.
Regarding the inclusion of Qatari citizens in future economic sectors, he said the strategy aims to employ more than 20 percent of the Qatari workforce in the private and joint sectors by encouraging the private sector to employ Qataris and implementing programmes to develop skills in cooperation with the private sector and improving the benefits of higher education and its appeal to Qataris, and modernising a governance model to align education with the needs of the job market. To achieve this, Al Mohannadi noted that a better-educated and more motivated competency base will be built through developing the teaching profession journey, reforming the academic supervision model in public and private schools, and developing new curricula.
He also said that the new strategy aims to strengthen the family, since it is the basic building block of society’s strength and stability.
He added that to build a cohesive society that maintains its authentic values and strong family ties, promote responsible citizenship, and build a harmonious local society to achieve prosperity, Qatar is building and strengthening strong families by expanding family policies that support procreation, supporting the institution of marriage, promoting positive parenting, increasing flexibility in women’s work as well as raising the fertility rate to an average of three births per woman.
He explained that Qatar will work through NDS3 to unify the service platform s provided to them, launch home social care for the elderly, develop national strategies to prevent domestic violence and expand social centres for people with disabilities.
He added that it is also a priority to increase awareness of and celebrate national identity, enhance the production and consumption of local cultural content, in addition to promoting a culture of responsibility and participation for all segments, including youth, by strengthening the volunteer system and enabling civil society organisations and the private sector to provide social support.
Regarding Qatar’s international role, he affirmed that the country continues to commit to its vital role in the international arena, supporting peace and stability and contributing to the peaceful settlement of conflicts through its approach that emphasises dialogue and mediation as the two basic pillars of conflict resolution. Qatar will also continue to strengthen international cooperation and solidarity, expand global partnerships, actively participate in multilateral efforts sponsored by the United Nations and relevant regional organisations, and enhance cooperation and dialogue to confront global challenges.
The Minister also stressed the importance of providing high-quality life as an essential factor in enhancing the well-being of the people of Qatar and making it an appealing global destination.
In terms of environmental sustainability and to fulfil the commitment outlined in Qatar National Vision 2030 to preserve the environment for future generations, the Minister said the new strategy will ensure the efficient management of environmental elements such as air, water, land, and biodiversity, and their protection.
He added that in this context, Qatar will commit to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent, rationalising electricity and water consumption while increasing their production efficiency, encouraging the transition to more sustainable modes of transportation, transitioning to a circular economy, and enhancing environmental awareness in society.
He said Qatar aspires to achieve global leadership in government services and digital governance by developing the design and delivery of services, establishing a centre of excellence specialised in service delivery, and enhancing central systems to track and monitor the performance of government services, ensuring a customer satisfaction rate of at least 85 percent.
Regarding digital government, he emphasised that the strategy aims to digitise 90 percent of services, focusing on increasing connectivity between systems and improving data exchange between government entities. He further added that the strategy aims to increase the effectiveness of government policy-making, align and harmonise policies, and enhance accountability within government institutions.
