5 October 2021
Qatar Chamber (QC) Chairman HE Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim AL Thani headed the Chamber’s delegation participating in the Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry meetings and the 24th Arab-German Business Forum which was held in Berlin from 4 to 6 October in Berlin.
The delegation included QC board member Dr Khalid bin Klefeekh Al Hajri and QC general manager Saleh bin Hamad Al Sharqi.
During the joint meeting of the Executive Bureau and Board of Directors of the Arab-German Chamber, both parties reviewed the proposed activities for 2022 to strengthen trade and economic cooperation relations between Germany and the Arab countries.
This meeting was followed by the meeting of the General Assembly of the Arab-German Chamber, during which members of Arab and German sides were elected to the Board of Directors.
During the meeting, Qatar Chamber was re-elected as a member of the Board of Directors.
The Chamber’s delegation also participated in the 24th Arab-German Business Forum which was organised by Arab-German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in cooperation with Union of Arab Chambers, the Association of German Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Council of Arab Ambassadors in Germany.
The forum’s sessions, discussions and workshops focused on shedding light on the main sectors that create opportunities and growth between the Arab and German sides.
In a statement, HE Sheikh khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani praised the strong economic relations between Arab countries and Germany, which witnessed a remarkable growth in recent years.
He noted that the Covid-19 pandemic had negatively affected the commercial relations between both sides due to the economic closures and disruption of supply chains, indicating that the trade exchange between both sides amounted to about € 36.1 billion last year, showing a decline of 18.5 percent compared to the previous year, stressing the need to revitalize trade exchanges to return to their pre-Covid levels.
Sheikh Khalifa also stressed that activating the trade exchange between Arab countries and Germany was one of the important topics that were discussed during the forum.
The forum also reviewed other topics related to the development of cooperation between the two sides in various fields such as logistics and transport, urban infrastructure and smart cities, reconstruction, and sustainable development, as well as digitization and how the industry can drive diversification in the Arab countries.
It also highlighted the knowledge transfer as a key to business sustainability and digital transformation success, he said, adding that the discussions also dealt with the future of investment and finance in Arab-German business relations.
Elaborating Qatar-Germany relations, QC Chairman said that both countries are linked with strong relations especially in economic and commercial ties, pointing out that their trade volume hit QR 6.4 bn (€ 1.5bn) last year while it reached QR 4.3 bn (€ 1.02 bn) in the first half of this year, an increase of 23 percent compared to QR 3.5 bn (€ 830mn) during the same period last year.
HE emphasized the Qatar Chamber’s concern to enhance relations between the Qatari and German private sectors through increasing mutual visits, encouraging the establishment of partnerships between Qatari and German firms and exploring the investment opportunities available in both countries to help businessmen from both countries to benefit from these opportunities to forge joint ventures, whether in Qatar or in Germany.
Sheikh Khalifa also said that there are 150 German companies operating in Qatar, which are active in many fields such as trade, construction, services, services, and medical equipment and others, stressing that the existence of German companies in Qatar is an important addition.
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