To promote economic partnership with Asian giants .. Emir of Qatar begins foreign tour

Emad Mourad - Doha

In a bid to boost economic partnership with the Asian giants, Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani will start a tour of South Korea, Japan and China on Sunday, embodying Qatar's desire to open markets and boost trade growth with East Asia.

Although the three countries will depend heavily on Qatari gas, the talks will address other topics. Strategic partnership in various areas will be a top priority for Sheikh Tamim in his discussions with the three countries, as well as an exchange of views on all issues of mutual interest.

The visit begins with a visit to South Korea, which has close strategic ties with Doha for 45 years since the establishment of relations in 1974, with bilateral trade reaching $ 11.7 billion in 2017, of which $ 11.2 billion is Qatari exports.

Qatar supplies 11.5 million tonnes of natural gas to South Korea, making Seoul the largest destination for Qatari gas exports. 15 Korean companies have a majority in Qatar, most of them engaged in construction and engineering, and are involved in 35 different projects worth $ 12.4 billion.

The ambassador of the Republic of Korea to Doha, Zhang Mo Kim, said that the visit of the emir of Qatar is a clear indication of the strength of relations between the two countries, especially the second in five years, adding that the two countries have many commonalities, both of them achieved a rapid economic development in a relatively short period.

Zhang added that the visit is of great importance to strengthen bilateral relations and achieve more fruitful results, pointing to the establishment of a strong base of cooperation in various fields through the signing of many agreements and memorandums of understanding.

The second stop
Japan will be the second leg of the Emir of Qatar's tour, and the two countries are involved in several areas of cooperation, including a joint US oil-drilling project known as the Golden Corridor Project, and advanced biomedical research on the Human Genome Project since 2014.

According to official statistics, the total country exports to Japan reached about 11.6 billion dollars last year, equivalent to 13.1% of Qatar's production of liquefied natural gas. Japanese companies also participate in several gas export stations in Qatar such as Marubeni and Mitsui, .

Third station
The last leg of Sheikh Tamim will be China, Qatar's fourth largest trading partner and second largest source of imports. Qatar is the second largest exporter of liquefied natural gas to China, and relations are developing rapidly.

The volume of trade exchange between the two countries reached 10 billion dollars in 2017, which represents 10.92% of the total foreign trade volume of the State of Qatar, in the presence of many Chinese companies operating in Qatar, some of them participate in important strategic projects such as Port Hamad and the 2022 World Cup projects.

Qatar has 14 companies wholly owned by the Chinese side, in addition to 181 companies established in partnership between the two sides. The Chinese-Qatari Economic Forum, held two months ago, is an additional building block in the partnership relations between the two countries.

The Emir's tour underscores the expansion of his country's trade relations since the blockade began in June 2017. This is his second Asian tour after his tour in October 2017, which included Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, during which he signed several cooperation agreements.

The tour will be accompanied by a series of developments in the economic and investment environment in Qatar, with decisions and laws that will attract foreign investments and other developments that will enhance relations between Qatar and the Asian countries covered by the tour.