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Satyendra Pathak
Doha
More than 300 representatives of international business communities will take part in the 15th edition of the Back 2 Business (B2B) taking place on October 29 in Doha to explore business opportunities available in Qatari market.
Initially conceived by the Italian and the German chambers of commerce in 2004 to catch up with Qatar's business community after the long summer break, the Back 2 Business networking event is the most awaited international business get-together in Qatar.
Addressing a press conference to announce the details of the much-awaited annual business networking event, Italian Chamber of Commerce in Qatar Chairperson Palma Libotte said,"In 15 years, Qatar has gone a very long way, subverting the rules related to duration of any economic cycle that usually includes prosperity, recession, depression and recovery in a five years time span.
"Expansion cycles in Qatar lasted much longer, depression cycles were shorter and swiftly replaced by an incredibile recovery. The capacity of business community to switch and adapt to new fruitful business sectors is incredible."
"There was never a dull moment in Doha in the past 15 years. Starting from Asian Games to rapidly developing infrastructure for Fifa 2022 and meeting the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030, Qatar is always abuzz with business activities," she said.
Despite the ongoing economic blockade imposed on the country, Libotte said, there was never a moment when international and local business communities in Qatar surrendered.
"They always found new ways to carry on with their businesses. The international business communities, their embassies and business councils are ready and eager to surf the new wave of energy," she said.
Libotte said that three new economic sectors like food, tourism and legal service have been to this year's edition of the event as Qatar has seen a lot of development in these sectors in the recent past.
Addressing media on the occasion, Italian Ambassador to Qatar HE Pasquale Salzano said,"We are witnessing a phase of great renewal in the economy of Qatar. For Italian and international business community that are eager to take part in Qatar's progress, this is a great opportunity to share expertise and best practices with local companies, treasuring the added value of the lessons learned in the past 15 years."
"The agro-food sector has expanded immensely in the past two years and our efforts are directed to foster cooperations between Qatari and Italian private sector in the fields of agriculture and livestock production, feed production and food processing, in addition to introducing Qatari businessmen to the most important Italian agricultural products," the Italian envoy said.
"Hopefully we will be the opening companies to handle distribution of Italian food products in Doha to meet the fast growing demand for quality food products in the country," he said.
Tourism is another business sector that is booming in Qatar in view of the FIFA 2022 World Cup, he said.
"Tourism offers a great potential for business cooperations and investments. We are ready to share our expertise and contribute positively to the plans of Qatar Tourism Authority," he said.
QTA's agreement with German Aida Cruises and Italian Costa Cruises will potentially bring up to 45,000 passengers to Qatar in the coming season, he said.
German Ambassador to Qatar HE Hans Udo Muzel, who also addressed the media on the occasion, said,"We are here to say. Qatar is an integral part of Germany's trade network. German companies are bullish about Qatar market and they are here to stay for long."
"Qatari economy has done remarkably well over the past year despite the difficult circumstances. Economic growth is expected to hover between 3 percent and 4 percent in the years to come and Qatar has continued to invest in markets abroad. This is indicative of the resilience of the Qatari economy," the German envoy said.
