Minister of Commerce and Industry H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim Al Thani presenting an award to Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive and Chairman of Qatar Tourism H E Akbar Al Baker during the inauguration of the ‘National Product Week’.
Doha: Minister of Commerce and Industry H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Hamad bin Qassim Al Thani launched 1000 Opportunities Initiative which allows local investors to view the existing and future opportunities and projects.
The Minister also inaugurated the ‘National Product Week’ that aims to celebrate the success of Qatari companies and their products in various sectors, enhance efforts to localize supply chains, and support self-sufficiency. It includes a variety of events and activities over a seven-day period, including a conference that brings together a group of national shareholders and the most prominent actors in the Qatari economy to discuss a number of topics and issues related to national products.
The opening ceremony was attended by President of the Civil Service and Government Development Bureau, Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Khalifa; Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive and Chairman of Qatar Tourism H E Akbar Al Baker; Chairman of the Qatari Businessmen Association Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani; Chairman of Qatar Chamber Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani; President of Qatar General Electricity & Water Corporation ‘KAHRAMAA’ Engineer Essa bin Hilal Al Kuwari and other dignitaries.
The ‘National Product Week’ will conclude on March 19.
Minister of Commerce and Industry stressed the importance of the National Product Week initiative, as it comprises an additional building block to the many achievements that have contributed to supporting Qatari products. It also represents the culmination of a long process of success, starting at the brainstorming phase, followed by that of production, and then market access, in addition to going through the stages of development, training, and continuous supervision aimed at raising the efficiency and ability of national companies to win supply deals and tenders.
He valued the continuous cooperation with the relevant authorities and partners that have contributed to succeeding in this regard, especially QDB which has launched several pioneering initiatives such as the virtual platform for coordination meetings ‘Meet Your Manufacturer’, launched last year as the first virtual platform of its kind to support Qatari companies and introduce buyers to local manufacturers.
The Minister added that about 190 companies were registered on the platform, and the value of the contracts signed amounted to over QR63m. This comes in addition to organising four successful editions of the Government Procurement and Contracting Conference and Exhibition (Moushtarayat) since 2016, in which the total value of deals amounted to QR3.042bn.
The Minister of Commerce and Industry pointed out the efforts to enhance cooperation with other government agencies and bodies, such as the Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (Kahramaa), who has a presentation scheduled during the event on an integrated procurement plan for the next five years, in addition to the close cooperation with Katara Hospitality, with which the value of local contracts amounted to about QR21.3m last year.
He added that coordination has been made with the national carrier, Qatar Airways, by concluding several procurement contracts with national companies since 2019. The value of contracts last year amounted to about QR100m, which were offered to national companies specialised in the food and beverage industry.
On a related level, he noted the keenness to enhance continuous cooperation and coordination with the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) in implementing many other initiatives aimed at accelerating the localization of supply chains.
The Minister stated that MoCI had taken on encouraging national industrial institutions to increase their productivity, in line with determinants of the Second National Development Strategy 2018-2022 and the Qatar National Manufacturing Strategy, so it had launched the joint framework contracts initiative in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance and Hamad Medical Corporation. In this regard, the initiative primarily covered the pharmaceutical and medical equipment sector, and its scope will be expanded to include other sectors, in coordination with the concerned authorities.
“Work has been done to raise the level of access to national goods and products to the largest number of sales outlets in the country. This is being achieved by directing allocating about 50% of the exhibits to Qatari products, in addition to meeting and coordinating with more than 30 governmental and semi-governmental agencies to motivate them to give priority to national products, and increase their purchases in this field,” he added.
Talking about the 1000 Opportunities Initiative, he said that it is expected to contribute to provide significant investment and economic opportunities that would benefit the industrial sector. He added, Qatar is currently witnessing a remarkable increase in the number of factories operating therein, bringing their number today to more than 806 factories.
The Minister pointed out that the established industrial facilities have introduced new products, amounting to over 845 ones produced over the past year. He noted the increase in the value of investments in food products industry in 2021, knowing that these investments have amounted to QR5bn, i.e. an increase of 69 percent compared to their value in 2017.
