Turkish Ambassador to Qatar, Fikret Ozer, speaking at the Turkish National Day celebration held at his residence on Sunday. Pic: Baher Amin/The Peninsula
The Ambassador of Turkey to Qatar, Fikret Ozer, has said that Qatar has become the 7th country in which the Turkish contracting sector has undertaken the highest volume of projects.
“Turkey, with its functional economy continues to be a safe haven for Qatari investments, whose total value is approaching $22bn,” said the Ambassador while addressing a reception hosted to celebrate 96th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey on Sunday at his residence.
The event was held at the Turkish Ambassador’s Residence in the presence of Minister of Education and Higher Education, H E Dr Mohammed Abdul Wahed Al Hammadi; Minister of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs, H E Dr Ghaith bin Mubarak Al Kuwari; Minister of Commerce and Industry, H E Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari; Minister of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs, H E Yousuf Mohamed Al Othman Fakhro; State Minister for Foreign Affairs, H E Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi; and Chairman of Qatar Businessmen Association, Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani.
“The Turkey-Qatar Supreme Strategic Committee, which we established in 2015, has been convened four times so far. At the end of these meetings, we signed 45 agreements. We will hold the fifth meeting of the Committee in Doha before the end of this year. Thus, we will host the Turkish delegation headed by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, President of the Republic of Turkey, in Qatar. Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey will also pay a visit to Qatar next month to discuss the preparations of this meeting,” the Ambassador said.
In the field of tourism, the Ambassador emphasised that Turkey had welcomed 32,000 visitors from Qatar in 2016. “I happily observed that this number increased to 96,000 in 2018. Similarly, we are glad to see that Turkish citizens show more and more interest in Qatar every year. There are nearly 10,000 Turkish citizens residing in Qatar which is one of the most valuable elements that enrich our relations.”
“During the current times, our country has faced many internal and external challenges aimed at our security, stability and unity. However, the Turkish Republic, in unity with its people, has successfully overcome these challenges with its powerful army, effective diplomacy and reforms,” the Ambassador said.
The latest example of these challenges, the Ambassador noted, was the threat of terrorism from the activities of the PYD/ YPG terrorist organization, the Syrian branch of the PKK, targeting Turkey from the north east of Syria.
He added: “I would like to thank all our friends, especially the State of Qatar, in the leadership of Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, who have been on the side of the right and truth from the day first.”
