QBA Meeting with Mali Prime Minister

• The Prime Minister of Mali reviews investment opportunities with the Qatari Businessmen Association
• Shugel Maiga: A Potential Qatar-Financial Economic Forum is being studied
• Sheikh Faisal: We are ready to explore the investment opportunities in Bamako

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Mali, Mr. Shugel Maiga, talked after his meeting with the Qatari Businessmen Association about the discussions that took place concerning the possibility of organizing a Qatari-Mali economic forum in the presence of businessmen of the two countries and the sponsorship of the two countries’ governments to review all investment opportunities available in Mali and Qatar.
This came during a meeting organized by the Qatari Businessmen Association headed by Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, QBA chairman, and attended by Mr. Hussein Ibrahim Al-Fardan, QBA First Deputy, Mr. Saud Al-Mana, QBA Board Member, and Mrs. Sarah Abdallah, QBA Deputy GM.
From Mali, the economic advisor to the president, Mr. Asimi Gueta, and the head of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Mali Mr. Youssef Bathili, and the economic advisor to the Parliament attended.
The Malian Prime Minister discussed the opportunities offered by his country to Qatari investors, which include the agricultural sector, where Mali provides about 2 million hectares of fertile land, in addition to the infrastructure, energy, healthcare, mining and tourism sectors.
Mr. Maiga also stressed out that his country ranks first in Africa in cotton production, and it exploits only 2% in manufacturing industries, which makes this sector important for foreign investments and the transformation of this field into textiles, as there is a huge market in West Africa consisting of 350 million consumers. He also referred to the mining sector, especially gold, where Mali is one of the richest African countries in this sector.
For his part, Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, Chairman of the Qatari Businessmen Association, spoke about the necessity of identifying the productive sectors that the Malian government wants to offer to the Qatari private sector, and which do not compete with the Malian businessmen, welcoming Mali's visit to explore investment opportunities in the capital, Bamako.
Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim also indicated that the Qatari Businessmen Association and its members aim at translating Qatar’s foreign vision as they are interested in exploring global markets and are fully prepared to study investment opportunities in the Republic of Mali, which confirms the strong relationship between the State of Qatar and Mali, and that the private sector can contribute with a positive role in these relations.

Developing the bilateral relations

For his part, Mr. Hussein Al-Fardan pointed out the importance of the Prime Minister’s visit to QBA Office, which contributes to strengthening mutual relations of cooperation between the two countries, especially as it sheds light on investment opportunities that could attract Qatari businessmen.
He also noted that QBA supports the State of Qatar's approach to strengthening cooperation with all countries of the world in line of its plans for economic diversification and the establishment of investments outside the country. He explained that Qatar is interested in increasing its investments in Africa, stressing QBA’s support of this direction and readiness to encourage Qatari business investors to invest in Mali and take advantage of these opportunities.
Mr. Saud Al-Mana, QBA Board member, said that there are distinguished relations between the State of Qatar and the Republic of Mali, and there are reciprocal visits at the level of the leaderships of the two countries. He also indicated that stability is important for launching private projects, stressing that the association will study the projects proposed by the Mali government and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, consequently the potential investment opportunities will be identified. 
Mali controls a significant stock of natural resources and minerals, placing it among the most important African countries in production and stocks, most notably: uranium, gold, phosphate, salt, granite, kaolin represented by a pure white clay material, limestone, and bauxite.
Mali ranks third in Africa in terms of gold production with 61.63 tons after Ghana and South Africa, and despite its vast desert area that covers more than 60% of its total area, Mali is one of the African countries rich in agricultural crops and livestock that It is also considered an essential resource for underprivileged families.
It is also worth noting that Mali’s exports exceed 2.5 billion dollars, the majority of which are to China, Malaysia, Indonesia and India, while their imports range to about 2.9 billion dollars, with France taking the lead, then Senegal, Ivory Coast and China