US Ambassador to Qatar H E Timmy Davis during the discussion at the Global Security Forum yesterday in Doha.
Doha: Terming Qatar “a force for good” for the region and world, US Ambassador to Qatar H E Timmy T Davis says Qatar is a longstanding partner in efforts to promote security and cooperation.
“It’s so clear to me in the time that I’ve been here that Qatar has become a force for good, not just regionally, but globally,” he said speaking in a session at the Global Security Forum yesterday in Doha.
Ambassador Davis also lauded Qatar’s continuous efforts in humanitarian assistance, medication and security collaboration at the regional and global levels.
“It has to be understood that there are things that the United States can do in the region only because Qatar does it in the region,” he said.
He said that the US appreciates and recognizes Qatar’s efforts and seeks to convey it to their legislators and politicians.
Emphasizing Qatar’s commitment to humanitarian work, Ambassador Davis said,”… if it’s something that works within Qatar’s foreign policy, it’s something that Qatar will say yes to,” adding that Qatar has a rich foreign policy.
During the conversation with Ali Velshi, host of “Velshi” and Chief Correspondent, MSNBC, Ambassador Davis also reflected on the mutual interests of both states and the strategic priorities they share amidst complex conflicts and challenges in terms of global and regional security.
About bilateral relations between Qatar and US, he said that the bother countries share strong relationship ties in several areas including economy, defense and security.
Ambassador Davis commended Qatar’s commitment in areas of human rights and labour rights and he said, “On human rights and labour rights, there’s a lot of focus on this during the World Cup. Qatar is actually a leader in the region… One of the things I like to point out is that there’s a lot of work that happened before the World Cup… Qatar National Vision 2030 is what Qataris have actually been working toward, the idea of human dignity, changing labour laws, which have a minimum wage law, ability to change jobs and not have to leave the country.
All of these are strides that the Qataris have made.” Commenting on Qatar hosting a successful FIFA World Cup he said, “We just saw the Qataris put on, inviting the world here incident free. Maybe the best World Cup any of us has seen in our lifetime.” Encouraging tourists and businesses from the US, Ambassador Davis said that Qatar provides a stable environment for companies, businesses and tourism.
“American businesses need to understand this is a place where you can come create relationships, create corporations, and create opportunities that don’t exist in other places. (Qatar is) an aisle of stability, of modernity, of culture… I can think of 20 countries in the world that Americans might like to visit; they could visit Qatar instead and get what they were getting in those twenty countries,” said Ambassador Davis.
