Meeting with H.E. the Minister of Popular Power for Tourism & Foreign Trade of Venezuela

The Qatari Businessmen Association organised a meeting with H.E. Mr. Felix Ramon Gonzalez, Minister of Popular Power for Tourism & Foreign Trade of Venezuela and his accompanying delegation during their visit to Qatar to attend Qatar Hospitality Exhibition. The meeting was also attended by H.E. Mr.  Giuseppe Angelo Yoffreda Yorio Ambassador of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to Qatar, and it aimed at discussing the bilateral relations and economic cooperation between the two countries 

From the Qatari Businessmen Association, the meeting was attended by Sheikh Nawaf bin Nasser Al Thani, QBA Board Member, also from QBA Members Mr. Salah al Jaidah, Mr. Maqbool Khalfan, Mr. Ihsan al Khiaymi and Mr. Mohamed Althaf attended the meeting as well as QBA Deputy General Manager Ms. Sarah Abdullah

Mr. Felix Ramon Gonzalez thanked QBA members for the meeting, confirming that his visit aims to discuss ways for collaboration in the tourism sector and means for bilateral investment between the Qatari businessmen and their counterparts from the Venezuelan side, he also praised the economic prosperity he found in Qatar where he visited several times before, and witnessed the development and the changes the state achieved 

The Venezuelan Minister also added that Venezuela has many attractive investment advantages and is rich in natural resources and open for foreign investment, for instance there are more than 300 thousand square meters of land suitable for tourism investment, pointing also to the island of Margarita in the Caribbean in addition to the multiple rivers the country has; referring to the availability of electricity, as well as a number of prestigious hotels which are currently under the supervision and management of the state but are offered for foreign investment. This is in addition to the existence of huge reserves of oil and gold in the country

For his part, Sheikh Nawaf welcomed the minister and his accompanying delegation, confirming the importance of the visit in discussing ways of cooperation between the two countries and working to boost economic and trade relations. He also pointed out the interest of Qatari businessmen in identifying the investment opportunities available in Venezuela, especially in the tourism sector

QBA members also stressed the keenness of the State of Qatar to develop its relations with all countries. Both sides discussed the current economic situation and the state's vision towards self-sufficiency in various vital sectors and the possibility of partnership in light of the investment incentives provided by the State of Qatar to foreign investors

It is worth mentioning that the Qatari-Venezuelan relations, have started since 1961, highlighted during the exchange of diplomatic missions which took place in 1973, and resulted in strengthening the political relations between the two countries, and then developed further and included many high-level meetings, exchange of visits and technical cooperation, In areas such as agriculture, culture, education, tourism, air services, and reached its peak during 2015, 2016, 2017 

At the end of the meeting, the Minister thanked the Qatari side for the warm welcome and invited QBA Members to visit Venezuela. He also proposed signing an MOU between QBA and its counterpart in Venezuela to follow up on this meeting and prepare for the visit of the Qatari delegation