The Qatari Businessmen Association meets with the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Association DEIK to hold the Qatar Turkey Business Council

The Qatari Businessmen Association had a Virtual meeting with the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Association DEIK and held “the Qatar Turkey Business Council”. From the Qatari side, the meeting was headed by H.E.  Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani, QBA Chairman. from the Turkish side, the meeting was chaired by Mr. Basar Arioglu, Chairman of Qatar Turkey Business council and DEIK Board member and also Mr. Nael Olpak, DEIK Chairman, in the presence of Mr. Burak Guresci, Commercial Counsellor of the Turkish Embassy in Qatar. 
The meeting came as part of QBA’s efforts to communicate with the different economic institutions around the world in order to discuss opportunities for economic cooperation during the current global crisis and to consolidate ties and know more about the global experiences and ways to benefit from it. The meeting also tackled several proposed solutions to support private sector companies in light of the current crisis conditions
From QBA, the meeting was also attended by Dr. Sheikh Khalid bin Thani Al Thani, QBA Second Deputy, also from QBA Board members, Sheikh Nawaf bin Nasser, and Mr. Saud al Mana. From QBA Members, Mr. Khaled al Mannai, Mr. Salah Al Jaidah, Mr. Abdullah Al Kubaisi, Mr. Maqbool Khalfan, Mr. Ihsan al Khiyami, all attended the meeting as well as Ms. Sarah Abdallah, QBA Deputy GM.
At the beginning of the meeting, Sheikh Faisal bin Qassim Al Thani greeted everyone on the occasion of the blessed month of Ramadan, wishing the Islamic Nation and the whole world health prosperity and blessings. He also stressed out the importance of the cooperation of various economic institutions, private sector companies and businessmen in light of this global crisis to overcome its consequences and support the efforts of governments to restore recovery for the local and global economy. Confirming his belief in the recovery of the Qatari and Turkish economies after this crisis, God willing, as they are built on solid foundations in addition to the wise and successful economic policies pursued in both countries, he also thanked DEIK Association for calling this meeting, which is an affirmation of the strength of the Qatari Turkish relations, and noted the importance of supporting the efforts made by the two countries to overcome this crisis

For his part, Mr. Basar Arioglu introduced the Turkish side and the participating members and the sectors they represent. Mr. Ihsan Sahin and Mrs. Nüket Küçükel Ezberci from the health sector, Mr. Ammar Ismail and Mrs. Süheyla Çebi Karahan, Mr. Cahit Oklap, Mr. Serdar Bacaksiz and Mr. Aziz Çengel, from the contracting and construction sector, And Ms. Feyhan Yasar from the Food and Logistics Sector. Mr. Bashar also presented an overview of the most important measures taken by Turkey to reduce the spread of the virus and control the number of infected people. He also presented some measures that were taken to confront economic challenges, including allocating the equivalent of $ 15 billion as an economic package, pumping liquidity into the Turkish market, reducing the repayment period of loans for Factories affected by the Corona virus and interest payments to banks to 3 months, Providing support to exporters who suffer from a temporary decline in exports, providing job opportunities, and a ban on layoffs with state support for affected employees, raising the minimum pension in addition to cash assistance to deprived families. Mr. Bashar also talked about the permanent coordination that takes place between hospitals in the public and the private sectors with regard to dealing with people infected with Coronavirus.
Also, Mr. Nael Olpak, DEIK Chairman emphasized the importance of the continuation of business, stressing out that DEIK has been holding its regular meetings normally through the means of visual communication. He also indicated the need to pay attention to the development of technological means and the communications and information technology sector in general, which would assist in such times.

For his part, Sheikh Nawaf bin Nasser Al Thani, QBA Board member, also reviewed the package of financial and economic incentives announced by His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of the state of Qatar, which amounted to 75 billion riyals to the private sector, as well as allocating Guarantees for local banks within the national guarantee program launched by Qatar Development Bank to allocate guarantees to local banks in the amount of 3 billion riyals. The program comes to guarantee 100% financing by the government of the State of Qatar, with the aim of helping private companies affected by the difficulties of paying short-term payments, including salaries and rental dues.

Sheikh Nawaf also presented other measures that included the central bank setting the appropriate mechanism to encourage banks to postpone loan installments and private sector obligations with a grace period of six months. It also directed Qatar Development Bank to postpone installments for all borrowers for a period of six months. Directing government funds to increase their investments in the stock market by 10 billion riyals, and for the central bank to provide additional liquidity to banks operating in the country.

Dr. Sheikh Khalid Bin Thani Al Thani, QBA Second Deputy, has proposed holding a series of specialized sectoral meetings between companies and private sector institutions in both countries, to discuss cooperation opportunities in detail and benefit from the experience of companies in conducting their business remotely and the solutions adopted to overcome the crisis, these sectoral meetings shall include banking sector, Food industries, pharmaceutical industries, construction and contracting, and others.
The participants also discussed the potential cooperation opportunities, where Ms. Nüket Küçükel Ezberci, Chairman of Güven Hospitals and DEIK member, spoke about the efforts made by health sector institutions in Turkey and expressed the willingness of the Turkish private sector companies to cooperate with the Qatari private sector in this sector, and added that they provide some Medicines that have succeeded in controlling the virus and protecting the infected from being admitted in the intensive care. For her part, Mrs. Süheyla Çebi Karahan, DEIK member, talked about ready-made field hospital projects, which may be one of the successful cooperation opportunities with Qatari businessmen, as they are currently using a ready-made camp in Turkey that includes 4000 person as a quarantine to provide the required medical care.

The participants also talked about the cooperation opportunities in the food sector, where Ms. Feyhan Yasar, Chairman of Pinar Company, spoke about the continuous cooperation with the State of Qatar regarding dairy products, food and animal products and ways to develop them.

At the end of the meeting, all Participants praised the continuous efforts of the business sector to maintain effective communication. Sheikh Faisal also proposed to meet in person with DEIK Members as soon as the crisis ends and hold the  Qatar Turkey Business council next meeting in Turkey, wishing everyone all the health.