The energy file topped the agenda of German Chancellor Olaf Schulz during his visit to the State of Qatar, which concluded yesterday evening, Sunday, as part of a Gulf tour and is his first since taking office last December.

Upon his arrival in Doha, the German chancellor held a session of bilateral talks with the Emir of the State, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, which dealt with many issues, especially in the economy, investment, energy and military cooperation, in addition to discussing the most prominent regional and international issues and developments.

The German chancellor's visit to Doha comes after the Emir of Qatar visited Germany last May, during which he signed the partnership agreement between the two countries in the field of energy, which focuses on hydrogen trade and liquefied natural gas, in light of Berlin's pursuit of alternative resources due to the Russian war on Ukraine. and its impact on the energy supply to Europe.

During press statements following the official talks session between the two sides, Sheikh Tamim stressed that Qatar and Germany aspire together to enhance their distinguished bilateral relationship in various fields, stressing that Qatar Energy and German energy companies are discussing investment opportunities between them, indicating that Qatar has been planning for years to expand the field. North gas is in response to the increasing global demand for gas, which has become of great importance and future.

Joint press statements by His Highness the Emir and the Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany.

#Qatar #Germany https://t.co/4GfRnE2ete pic.twitter.com/WLMt1gLPI7

— The Amiri Diwan (@AmiriDiwan) September 25, 2022

new opportunities

The Amir added that the State of Qatar is one of the largest investors in Germany, explaining that the Qatar Investment Authority continues to search for investment opportunities in Germany, due to Qatar's great confidence in the German economy.

For his part, the German chancellor explained that he discussed with the Emir of Qatar liquefied gas imports, looking forward to making more progress in this framework, pointing at the same time to continuing cooperation with Qatar in the field of hydrogen and electricity production, hoping to deepen cooperation in other economic fields such as air navigation and modern technology. and heavy equipment.

Trade relations between Qatar and Germany have witnessed a great development in recent years, as Germany is an important trading partner of the State of Qatar. The two countries last year amounted to 11.2 billion riyals, compared to 6.4 billion riyals in 2020.

The Qatari market is also attractive to German companies, as about 330 German companies work in various sectors such as trade, contracting, services, shipping, devices, medical equipment, etc., in addition to the participation of German companies in infrastructure projects as well as in World Cup projects. The volume of Qatari investments in Germany is about 25 billion euros.

Al-Khater: Everyone is now aware of the correctness of the Qatari trend towards increasing LNG production (Al-Jazeera)

Diversification of energy sources

The economic expert Abdullah Al-Khater considered that the coincidence of the German Chancellor’s visit to Qatar with the Qatar Energy Company’s announcement of an agreement with Total Energies to expand the North-South Field, as part of the largest liquefied natural gas project in the world, is a great indication of Germany’s desire to diversify its sources. It has imported energy and is heading to the State of Qatar as a reliable supplier in the whole world.

Al-Khater stressed - in a statement to Al Jazeera Net - that Qatar was a pioneer in knowing the path of the energy market globally, and invested to raise the production of the North Field to 126 million tons at a time when all global investments moved away from the energy field.

Then came the Corona crisis, and then the Russian-Ukrainian war, to demonstrate the correctness of the Qatari tendency towards increasing the production of liquefied gas, given the current great market need.

Al-Khater added that the distinguished economic relations between Qatar and Germany will greatly contribute to reaching major agreements that contribute to alleviating the energy crisis in European countries, and help Berlin to diversify its sources of energy import to be safe from market fluctuations or problems that occur in the world, stressing that Relations between Qatar and Germany are moving in the right direction towards more cooperation, especially in the field of energy.

As for the economic analyst, Abdul Rahim Al-Hour, he believes that the German chancellor’s visit to Qatar comes in light of a critical economic and political curve. After the decline in growth and the significant negative effects that the German economy suffered after the Corona pandemic, the Russian-Ukrainian war in its totalitarian form came to impose great challenges on the German economy.

Al-Hour: The German Chancellor's visit to Qatar aims to agree with a safe supplier of liquefied gas (communication sites)

real economy

Al-Hour added to Al-Jazeera Net that the German economy is very different from its British and American counterparts in terms of the ratio of the contribution of the real industrial tangible economy to the financial economy, as Germany's economy depends in a very large proportion on heavy industries and technology and not the financial markets, stocks and financial derivatives, and after making the American-driven decision to stop Buying energy from Russia in all its forms, Berlin found itself severely affected economically and suffers from a severe shortage of energy supplies, which prompted Berlin to several options, including switching to coal energy and finding alternative sources of energy.

He explained that the prospects and importance of the German Chancellor's visit to Qatar comes from the door of the strategic economic alliance with a safe supplier of liquefied natural gas, taking into account the reserves and large production capacity of Qatari gas.

Europe is racing to find new energy sources to get rid of Russian gas in the wake of the Russian-Ukrainian war, and Qatar seems to be one of the best partners that Germany seeks to partner with in the energy field, especially after the giant Qatari deal with France’s Total, which will acquire 9.375% of the North South Field project, which is part One of the largest gas field in the world, which helps Doha increase its production of liquefied natural gas by more than 60%.