Doha: Helped by strong relations, the trade volume between Qatar and Turkey has reached new heights. The bilateral trade volume between the two countries reached QR6.8bn last year, said an official yesterday during an online event.
Presidency of the Republic of Turkiye Investment Office in collaboration with Qatar Chamber organised a webinar entitled ‘Turkiye’s Investment Ecosystem: Investment Opportunities in Technology & Tourism’ which touched on enhancing cooperation and investment opportunities between Qatar and Turkey’s tourism and technology sectors.
President of the Investment Office of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey, Ahmet Burak Daglioglu, said, “Turkey has been attracting Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) in the last two decades. The overall cumulative investment attracted since 2003 is $240bn.”
He invited Qataris to direct their investments to Turkey which enjoys an attractive investment climate, noting there are numerous incentives and facilities to attract Qatari investors in all sectors.
“Recently, in the last two to three years there are some trends, one of the trends is FDI projects and the global supply chain related projects. Turkey is becoming a powerhouse in the region. Another trend is real estate investment – on an average we are attracting $5bn annually of FDI in real estate business. One of the leading verticals is tourism and hospitality projects. Many Qatari investors/businessmen or corporate investors have invested in properties in Turkey,” he added.
Daglioglu invited Qatari investors to visit Tourism Investment Forum 2022 which is the largest event in this sector in Turkey. He also stressed that about $1.6bn investments were established by entrepreneurs in Turkey last year, indicating that 90 percent of these investments are foreign direct investments.
Ambassador of Turkey to Qatar H E Mustafa Goksu, emphasised the strong relations between both countries, noting that there is significant interest from both sides to develop their trade and investment cooperation. “In Qatar we have good incentives for investors in hospitality and technology. So, both countries have good opportunities for investment which we encourage.”
“The technology and hospitality sectors are very important for both Turkey and Qatar because technology is in everything around us and companies can expand, innovate, and renovate their activities. The quality of tourism is increasing every day,” the envoy added.
Goksu also said there are many incentives for Qataris, pointing out that a number of representatives in the Investment Office are appointed to help Qatari investors who are willing to invest in Turkey.
Mohamed bin Twar Al Kuwari Qatar Chamber Vice-Chairman delivered the opening speech. “Turkey is among the most important partners to Qatar and has a close relation in all fields especially in the economic and commercial aspects. We had a volume of trade exchange around QR6.8bn in last year. There is no doubt that this good development in the volume of trade can be traced to the good and strong relations between both countries,” he said.
“We have a number of agreements in investment and trade levels in private and public sector which has facilitated the exchange of mutual investment and has helped in the influx and overflow of commodities,” he added.
As for mutual investments, he noted that there are many Turkish companies operating in Qatar in various sectors such as trading, contracting, construction, health sector, services, technology, industry hospitality and furnishing. “Qatar Chamber encourages the Qatari businessmen to increase their investments in Turkey and enhance cooperation with their Turkish counterparts in forging partnerships and alliances in Qatar or Turkey. We also invite Turkish companies to invest in Qatar and benefit from the sophisticated infrastructure and its attractive pro-investment environment, he added.
The meeting was also attended by a number of leading businessmen from both countries.
