‘Blockade helped Qatar’s sustainability drive’

Blockade imposed on Qatar by the siege countries has helped the country to move further on the path of sustainability. Addressing a conference, Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah, Chairman of The Al-Attiyah International Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development, said that siege countries have failed to get global support on the issue of blockade. 

“The blockade has also helped us to wake up and to build our own sustainability,” said Abdullah bin Hamad Al Attiyah speaking at the 2017 Energy Transitions Conference held at Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU). “In the beginning we were shocked. We were dependent on them for many things. But now we have learned, but I now say thank you. Today were are expanding on in the area of food, expanding in importing goods from different part of the world,” he said. 

The two-day conference is titled ‘Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus and a Low Carbon Future for Qatar’. The conference is being co-organised by Qatar University (QU) and the College of North Atlantic – Qatar, with active participation from HBKU’s Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI).

The world knows that the allegations of siege countries are baseless, he said. “They say Qatar is financing terrorists , we say give us the proof, they never have any proof. It is now clear to the world that Qatar is not financing terrorists. But they are trying to destabilise Qatar,” he added. “Siege countries have also failed to get support of other countries,” he said. 

He said that the siege countries have now adopted tactic of spreading rumours to destabilise Qatar economy. 

“Now they have tried to attack our economy by spreading rumours about our currency and our economy. They are trying to create uncertainty in the mind of people. They are trying to destabilise our economy and currency saying that Qatari riyal is going down,” he said. 

He said that sustainable development is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges the world continues to face today. More than 800 million people still live in extreme poverty; one out of nine people are starving; 2.5 billion without access to clean water and 1.3 billion people have no access to modern electricity. It is against this backdrop that world leaders in September 2015 adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, enshrining the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. It is important to understand the scale of ambition, transformation and fundamental common human values that the 2030 agenda embodies. He said that oil and gas is depleting resource and stressed on to reduce the cost of desalination of water. 

“We strongly believe that by partnering and leveraging synergies with our local stakeholders, we will be able to generate ideas that will have wider impact on our community. We’re truly honoured to have hosted this conference with our partners drawing an experienced number of academics and professionals from around the world,” said Dr Ahmad M Hasnah, President, HBKU. “Their expert insights at this conference have highlighted the vital need for such an open discussion in the country – and through our joint research contribution on water security, challenges, and energy, HBKU continues to contribute to finding solutions that address Qatar’s national challenges,” he added.