.jpg)
QBA Meeting with Hon. Dato Seri Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia
The Qatari Businessmen Association organized a meeting with HE Wan Aziza Wan Ismail, Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia and her accompanying Ministerial delegation: Minister of International Trade and Industry, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Deputy Minister of Finance and Deputy CEO of Malaysia Investment Authority, in the presence of H.E. Ahmad Fadil Shamsuddin, Malaysia Ambassador to Qatar, on the sidelines of her visit to Doha to strengthen bilateral cooperation between the two countries and discuss ways to develop them
From QBA, the meeting was headed by Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, QBA Chairman And attended by Mr. Mohamed Bin Towar, Vice Chairman of Qatar Chamber, and from QBA Members, Mr. Nasser Al Haider attended the meeting along with Dr. Hussein Al Abdullah, Mr. Maqbool Khalfan and Mr. Ihsan Al Khayami. Also, Sheikh Khalid Bin Nawaf Al Thani attended, as well as Ms. Sarah Abdullah, QBA Deputy GM
At the beginning of the meeting, Sheikh Faisal welcomed the Deputy Prime Minister and her accompanying delegation and spoke about the historical relations between the State of Qatar and Malaysia. He also praised Malaysia, becoming an important investment destination with a strong and diversified economy and the fastest growing economy in South East Asia. also famous for its Islamic banking sector, which ranks the third globally as one of the largest Islamic banking sectors in the world.
In a note delivered by the Vice Chairman of Qatar Chamber, Mr. Mohammed bin Tawar welcomed the Deputy Prime Minister and the accompanying delegation. He also spoke about the need to strengthen cooperation relations and study investment opportunities between businessmen in both countries.
For her part, HE Mrs. Wan Aziza thanked QBA for this meeting and delivered a speech in which she affirmed her country's keenness to develop economic relations with Qatar, pointing to the multiple visits organized by business delegations from Malaysia to Doha during this year. Her excellency then spoke about the significant characteristics of the Malaysian Economy and its industrial plan where the industrial sector contributes with 36.8% of the national income and she stated some of the industries which represents an important pillar to the Malaysian trade revenues like electronics and electrical appliances, that represents 24.5% of the sector. In addition, Malaysia is famous for the medical tourism sector and most of the hospitals that cater to medical tourists are private sector institutions that follow internationally recognized standards in health care.
During the discussion, Mr. Nasser Al Haidar, QBA Member, addressed a question to the Malaysian delegation regarding the most important economic sectors in which the Qatari private sector can cooperate with the Malaysian side. The Minister of International Trade talked presented some sectors including the food industry and the health sectors, he also added the medical tourism sector
Dr. Hussein Al-Abdullah, QBA Member also asked about the Country’s growth rates and the most important current investment projects, where the Malaysian delegation stated that the growth rate reached 5.8% this year while the indicators promise an increase next year to exceed 6%. As for the upcoming projects, the delegation mentioned that the government pays a great deal of attention to the industrial projects, such as Food manufacturing, which accounts for 10% of the industrial sector as well as the manufacturing of electronics and electrical appliances.
During the meeting, QBA Members talked about the economic development taking place in Qatar under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar, stressing the role of the Qatari Businessmen Association in studying ways to enhance partnership and cooperation opportunities with their counterparts in Malaysia. And that the Qatari economy is moving towards diversification according to the national strategy 2017/2022 and the vision of Qatar 2030, and that Doha is an attractive destination for foreign investors, which led hundreds of trade delegations to visit during the past months
At the end of the meeting, Sheikh Faisal exchanged with Ms. Wan Aziza the souvenirs, and HE Deputy Prime Minister invited Sheikh Faisal and QBA Members to visit Kuala Lumpur and explore investment opportunities on the ground