Franck Gellet, Ambassador of France to Qatar
Over 5,500 French people living in Qatar are working in different sectors including education, hospitality, industry, banking and finance.
“Historically the French nationals came to Qatar during early era of oil and gas exploration but their number increased significantly since the country saw mega successive developments. It is an important community not only in number but also by their influence in the life of the country,” said Ambassador of France to Qatar, Franck Gellet.
Gellet told The Peninsula that most of the members of French community in Qatar were employed in sectors like education, hospitality, industry, banking and finance. “They are now focusing on the agriculture sector due to recent developments in this sector.”
The Ambassador noted that French community in Qatar was highly skilled and qualified and was playing an important role in Qatar’s development.
“Qatar wants to develop many sectors and the French community is participating in this development. Qatar now aims to export food not only to achieve food self-sufficiency,” he said.
Regarding ongoing Francophonie Festival, the Ambassador said that many people in Qatar speak French language among them many Qataris.
“The number of Qataris travelling to France is in tens of thousands annually. For long time they would travel mostly to Paris and Riviera. Now I can see Qataris driving their cars going to many places in France, in addition to Qataris who purchased houses in places no one expected them to come and they are happy because the weather is nice as well as culture and many of them speak French.”
“You can not imagine how many Qataris speaking French, how many come to me and speaking French because they are appreciating French language,” he said.
