Meeting with President of the Republic of Cyprus

The meeting was attended by HE Sheikh. Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, Chairman of the Qatari Businessmen Association, Mr. Hussein Al-Fardan First deputy chairman, Dr. Sheikh. Khalid Bin Thani Al-Thani, Second deputy chairman, Mr. Sherida Saad Jubran Al Kaabi, a QBA Board member, and QBA members: Mr. Nasser Sulaiman Al- Haider, Mr. Nabil Abu Issa, Mr. Salah Murad, Mr. Maqbool Habib Khalfan, the meeting was also attended by Mr. Saud Al-Mana Vice President and Group CEO of Al-Mana group and on behalf of Eng. Ali Abdulreda Mashhadi Eng. Haider Mashhadi and Mr. Tariq Naga, and Mrs. Sarah Abdullah, QBA Deputy General Manager.

HE Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani welcomed the visit of HE Mr. Nicos Anastasiades and his delegation which aimed at  discussing possible  ways of  strengthening  bilateral relations between the two countries especially in both the economic and business fields, where QBA chairman declared that the association is ready to facilitate and support the Cypriot companies and businessmen in entering the Qatari market, and that the Qatari businessmen are also interested in discovering business opportunities in the Cypriot market

From his side, HE the Cypriot President was pleased to hold this meeting and meet Qatari businessmen, where he confirmed that his country is looking forward to cooperate with Qatar in building mutually successful business partnerships ,   The president displayed to the Qatari businessmen present in the meeting the advantages that his country has which would make a good investment destination , including its position where its located at the crossroads of three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa, and its the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, making it an ideal and safe destination for Arab tourists and the Gulf tourists in particular, which thus creates promising opportunities for joint cooperation among the sectors of tourism , navigation and major development projects .

H.E the president also mentioned some of the investment incentives that Cyprus offers including a well-developed infrastructure that attracts businesses, in addition to 50 agreements signed with different countries to prevent double taxation, including an agreement with Qatar, and a strong and a solid tax and legal system, where Cyprus is considered to have one of the lowest tax rates in Europe and the most competitive one.

Furthermore, His Excellency Dr. Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada mentioned that there are similarities between the two countries, which would constitute a solid basis for cooperation, especially after the signature of several cooperation agreements between the two countries in the education and legal fields, the energy sector and in the field of desalination and waste water treatment and reuse, pointing out the strong partnership among Qatars government and its business community where government is working on ensuring that the Private sector will contribute in the government projects.
He also stressed that the local private sector is strong and ready to work with the government on its projects abroad as well.

Members of the Qatari businessmen association   explained to the Cypriot delegation Qatars achievement in all fields, which was enhanced under the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar , which has contributed to place Qatar on the map of the most influential countries in the world, and invited Cypriot companies and businessmen to explore the investment opportunities available in different areas of the economy as Qatar can benefit from all possible expertise available from all over the world during its preparations to host the 2022 World Cup.

At the end of the meeting, H.E the president thanked QBA for the warm welcome and invited the Qatari businessmen to visit Cyprus and to identify the investment opportunities closely.

Following the meeting Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani accompanied His Excellency Mr. Nicos Anastasiades, Cypriot President and H.E Dr. Mohammed Bin Saleh Al-Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry to visit his private carpet museum which is located on the sixth floor of City Tower, where he was introduced to some of Shk. Faisals collections which includes a wide range of unique old carpets, ceramics and precious furniture from turkey ,Egypt , Syria, Iran , Iraq and the Arab and Islamic countries. It also contains a unique collection of porcelain from the Abbasid period.

It is worth mentioning that the Qatari- Cyprus relations have witnessed a great development and exchange of high-level visits which started with the Cyprus former President HE Mr. Demetris Christofias in May 2009 in which a significant number of agreements were signed in various fields, followed by the visit of His Highness the Father Emir  Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani to Cyprus in April 2010 which was a "coronation" in the path of the relations between the two countries, and additional bilateral agreements were signed including an agreement on promoting and protecting mutual investments and the Air Services Agreement which are the most important ones, 20 agreements were signed and ratified, while there is still nearly 15 agreements under negotiation.