QBA Meeting with Tunisian Minister of Commerce H.E. Mr. Omar Al-Bahi

The Qatari Businessmen Association held a meeting with HE Mr. Omar Al-Bahi, Minister of Commerce of Tunisia and his accompanying delegation. The meeting was attended by Mr. Maher Toumi, Advisor to the Minister, Mrs. Saaida Hachisha, Director General at the Ministry of Commerce, HE Mr. Salah Al Salhi, Ambassador of Tunisia to Qatar and Mr. Rashid Saidani, Deputy Ambassador.

From the Qatari Businessmen Association, Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, QBA chairman headed the meeting, also QBA Members Mr. Faisal bin Fahad Al-Thani, Mr. Abdullah Al-Kubaisi, Mr. Ihsan Al-Khaiymi, and a representative of Eng. Ali Abdul Reda Mashhady attended the event. As well as Ms. Sarah Abdullah, QBA Deputy GM

At the beginning of the meeting, His Excellency Sheikh Faisal welcomed the Tunisian Minister and his accompanying delegation and stressed the importance of synchronized visits, which aim at discussing the means of trade and investment cooperation between the Qatari businessmen and their counterparts in the Tunisian side. Sheikh Faisal also discussed the possibility of cooperation and investment, whether in Qatar or Tunisia, as long as this cooperation achieves the mutual benefit of both parties.

For his part, the Tunisian minister thanked QBA for the meeting, pointing out that such meetings confirm the strong brotherly relations between the two countries. He also talked about the investment incentives in Tunisia, which set up a number of mechanisms to improve trade exchange through a high level of transparency, simplifying procedures and diversifying the Tunisian exports to include food, automotive components, electronics and services, the country has also improved the legislative scope of investment and has issued a new investment law.

In this context, HE Sheikh Faisal thanked HE the Minister for Tunisia’s interest in the State of Qatar and expressed the keenness of the country to develop its relations with Tunisia which has significant investment opportunities in many sectors such as agriculture and tourism, especially medical and industrial tourism, in addition to the competence and qualifications of Tunisian cadres.

Sheikh Faisal also spoke about the state's plans towards self-sufficiency in various vital sectors and the possibility of partnership in light of the investment incentives offered by Qatar to foreign investors such as the new investment law, which allows 100% ownership in most economic sectors, and helps the foreign investor to establish its business in Doha, also the port of Hamad, which provides enormous potential in the transference of all types and sizes of ships and vessels, stressing the role of Qatar as a leading investment destination in the region.

At the end of the meeting, the Minister thanked QBA and its members for the warm welcome. He also invited the businessmen to visit Tunisia and explore the actual investment environment and to learn about the most important investment opportunities, H.E. Sheikh Faisal welcomed the idea and expressed his readiness to have a delegation from QBA to visit Tunisia

It is worth noting that the volume of trade between Qatar and Tunisia has been steadily increasing. Commercial trade reached QR 130 million as of November 2017, compared to QR 97 million in 2016. Also worth mentioning that the largest Qatari companies operate in Tunisia and these include Ooredoo, Qatar National Bank and Qatari Diar