MARRAKECH: The Shura Council has emphasized Qatar's commitment and eagerness to support startups, provide promising investment opportunities, and foster entrepreneurship.
This came in a speech by Member of the Shura Council and Vice President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean HE Abdullah bin Nasser bin Turki Al Subaie, during the second session of the Marrakesh Economic Parliamentary Forum for the Euro-Mediterranean and Gulf regions, organized by the Parliament in cooperation with the House of Councilors of the Kingdom of Morocco.
Al Subaie said that Qatar has made significant strides in supporting projects and startups and providing investment opportunities through the development of laws and the facilitation of procedures, pointing to the efforts of Qatar Development Bank in this field.
He explained that the bank finances projects and provides part of the initial studies to help entrepreneurs make the right investment decisions, in addition to rewarding successful and outstanding projects and promoting women's participation in economic activity.
He highlighted the state's encouragement of the entry of specialized foreign investment companies into the Qatari market, and its recent reduction of all service fees provided to the trade, industry, and business development sectors by more than 90 percent to encourage capital investment in various economic fields.
In his speech, Al Subaie touched on Qatar's efforts to enhance cooperation with international organizations and bodies concerned with environmental and climate change issues, referring to the agreements ratified by the state in this regard.
He also discussed the obstacles to integration among the region's countries and the challenges of promoting economic development, mentioning the energy crisis, disruptions in food supply chains due to climate change, the ongoing impact of pandemics, and wars in the countries from which the region imports food. He emphasized the urgent need for structural economic reform and the reform of the current international financial system to align with the evolution of the economy and its needs.
He stressed the responsibility of parliaments to address these challenges, saying that parliaments have a responsibility to confront all these challenges, find solutions, and provide the material and human resources to implement and monitor them, which necessitates the need for cooperation and coordination between parliaments and legislative institutions, involving the private sector, empowering women and youth, and promoting sustainable development, and the governance of modern technologies such as artificial intelligence.
He added that parliamentarians look forward to this platform as a leading regional centre for parliamentary work in the transition to green energy, supporting investments and small projects."
Al Subaie began his speech at the forum by referring to the recent tragic events in Gaza in light of the ongoing brutal and heinous war waged by the occupying entity on the sector, which has resulted in thousands of martyrs and wounded, most of them women and children, and the destruction of infrastructure in full view of the world.
He reaffirmed Qatar's firm and supportive stance for the right of the Palestinian people to live with dignity on their land and to establish their independent state within the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, in accordance with international legitimacy resolutions.
The Marrakech Economic Parliamentary Forum, held over two days, discusses the relationship between securing energy supplies and transitioning to green energy, supporting entrepreneurship and small and medium enterprises, addressing challenges, and achieving clean and sustainable energy. It focuses on regional solutions to support entrepreneurship, economic growth, and connectivity across the Euro-Mediterranean and Arabian Gulf regions.
The forum is attended by political and economic officials representing the public and private sectors, as well as experts and academics specializing in the forum's topics and representatives of civil society.
