Sheikh Mohammed said that Qatar hosting the forum for a second year in succession burdened it with protecting economic, trade and invnvstment ties with Asian countries.

The relations between Qatar and Asia Cooperation Dialogue countries are strong and extend over a range of fields, most notably in the economic and trade sectors as these relations have witnessed great progress in various tracks through high-level official visits, bilateral investment projects and private sector cooperation.

Qatar for its part, a member in the Asia Cooperation Dialogue that comprises 35 countries, aims to promote intra-Asian economy integration by activating partnerships on win-win projects plus. He said trade exchange between these 15 countries of the Dialogue witnessed substantial growth, making the Asian continent one of the most important regions and the second-most commercially integrated region in the whole world.

He further pointed out that intra-Asian trade accounted for 57 per cent of its total trade by 2022, compared with just 54 per cent in 2000, according to statistics. Between 2017 and 2023, the annual trade in goods was also growing at nearly five percent between Asian countries, demonstrating the vibrancy of regional trade linkages and their centrality to global commerce.

As for foreign direct investment (FDI) flows, he stated that Asia continued to rule the roost as inflows into the region grew 8 percent and outbound investment increased by 18 percent. This showed that Asia could be more resilient in deal with global headwinds, and reinforced its significance as a crucial economic and investment environment, globally.

He also noted some of the successes attained by Qatar during recent years saying,’…we have diversified our economy and supported many other sectors such as digital technology, cybersecurity, financial and logistical services and renewable energy.

He pointed that after the initiation of Qatar National Vision 2030, remarkable progress in terms of infrastructure have been achieved by Qatar which has enormously played a key role towards the economic advancement across different essential sectors in the country.

To conclude, Sheikh Mohammed added that he looks forward to diversifying and reinforcing economic partnerships with Asian partners; saying “I invite investors to consider opportunities in areas that create an additional value,” noting the impact of investments on facilitating successful investment collaboration.

He also hailed the contribution of a large number of Asian companies working in Qatar, and invited prospective new investors to visit the country.

Here are the three sessions of the forum where it was all about with 1st Session discussing ‘Opportunities and Incentives for Investment in Qatar’ while we had a 2nd discussed over the challenges within‘Digital Transformation’ for the new era and at last we had a session on Business Path to Artificial Intelligence (AI).

The forum, also had on the agenda, bilateral meetings between businessmen from the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) countries to figure out ways to establish sustainable economic cooperation mechanisms and tap available investment opportunities in several domains.

The forum highlighted Qatar as one of the most important platforms to promote economic integration and cooperation throughout Asia. As always, by hosting such events, Qatar underlines its intention to stimulate growth in the region and remain as a keystone for trade and investment.