QATAR FTD low resolution Dec. 4

QATAR
wedneSday, november 28 2012 1
A special supplement by PANORAMA REPORTS LTD
Founded in 1973 and origi-nally
known as the Qatar Mon-etary
Agency, the Qatar Cen-tral
Bank (QCB) oversees the
country’s financial fortunes.
Many factors have contributed to
building the monetary safe haven
that the State of Qatar is today. One
of the most important has been the
link between the Qatari Riyal and
the US dollar. Sheikh Abdulla Saud
Al Thani, Governor of the QCB, be-lieves
this attachment to the dollar
has had a profound effect on creat-ing
the solid platform on which Qa-tar’s
economy stands today.
“There are several advantages in
maintaining the USD peg; first of
all, the fixed exchange rate provides
a credible anchor for monetary pol-icy
as almost all of Qatar’s export
contracts and invoicing are done in
the US dollar. Secondly, for most of
the period in which the peg has been
maintained, the Qatari economy has
benefited from the stable economic
environment in the US,” says the
central bank governor.
Since 2001, QCB has maintained
a policy of keeping the Qatari Riyal
pegged to the US dollar, at an aver-age
exchange rate of 3.64 (QR) per
USD. However, this is not the only
action taken by the central bank,
which is constantly studying new
ways to fortify and stabilise Qatar’s
economy.
“Despite obvious benefits there
are some challenges while operat-ing
under fixed exchange rates, as
we have to maintain our stance of
policy consistent with that of the
US, which may not always be jus-tified
based on our own domestic
considerations. We continue to re-iterate
our faith in the pegged ex-change
rate regime after carefully
weighing the benefits against the
costs. Nevertheless, we will con-tinue
to review the situation accord-ing
to evolving international and
domestic macroeconomic develop-ments,”
he adds.
Unlike many countries whose
economies rely heavily on exports
of natural resources, Qatar has been
able to withstand market fluctua-tions
in the prices for those prod-ucts.
The government’s national de-velopment
strategy includes support
for the expansion of non-hydrocar-bon
industries, so that in the case of
a slowdown in the oil and gas sector,
the economy will not be unduly af-fected.
Right now, both areas of the
economy are doing well – so much
so that the central bank has even
lowered interest rates to make credit
more easily available to companies
in the private sector.
“The non-hydrocarbon sector
also recorded higher growth, in-dicating
resurgence in economic
activity during the year in sync
with the pickup in global growth.
In order to support and sustain the
growth momentum in 2011, we have
recently reduced our key policy rate
by 50 basis points to signal a soft in-terest
rate regime and encourage the
Finance minister urges more flexibility
towards needs of arab nations
flow of credit to the private sector,”
says Sheikh Abdulla Saud Al Thani.
The government’s long-term vi-sion
is a cautious and careful one,
which seeks to preserve financial
stability through a two-pronged ap-proach.
To date, this strategy has
been highly successful.
The first aspect of the policy is to
prevent the financial system from
exposure to unnecessarily high lev-els
of risk. To this end, the QCB has
taken preventive measures to regu-late
and supervise the system, so
that any weaknesses can be detected
early on. Even with extensive super-vision,
however, no financial system
can be completely protected from
all types of risk. For this reason, the
second axis of the policy is correc-tive,
as it seeks to contain any prob-lems
at the earliest possible moment
and in so doing, prevent them from
spreading.
The central bank has also taken
preventive steps to limit the bank-ing
sector’s exposure in real estate
and in stocks. Rising prices in both
these areas during the past two years
have increased speculative invest-ment.
An independent supplement distributed with the FT Deutschland by Panorama Reports Ltd. who take sole responsibility for its content
As a result, restrictions have
been placed on loans in the real es-tate
sector and financing of stock
purchases has been prohibited.
With measures like these, the Qa-tar
Central Bank seeks to maintain
equilibrium between the country’s
development goals and its need to
maintain a stable financial system.
In order for investors to make
long-term commitments in produc-tive
sectors, they require economic
stability. Even so, all countries
eventually find themselves exposed
to crises, long- or short-term fluctu-ations
in export prices or even situ-ations
of extreme financial distress
that can adversely affect economic
activity.
Stability is the watchword for the
Qatar Central Bank and the proof is
in the results of its policies. QCB
keeps a close watch on all poten-tial
dangers to the country’s bank-ing
system; to date, it has published
three Financial Stability Reviews
and the intention is to make this a
continuing process.
Strong foundations
for sustainable development
See this report at
www.worldfolio.co.uk
The Qatari government is building on the nation’s strengths, turning doha into a leading global knowledge and financial centre
Ranked consistently as one of
the three fastest-growing econ-omies
in the world since 2008,
Qatar is experiencing an unprecedent-ed
economic boom that is changing the
face of the country. Under the leader-ship
of Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khali-fa
Al Thani, the government has made
great progress towards accomplishing
the goals of its National Vision 2030,
which are to ensure sustainable, eq-uitable
and rapid economic growth,
while developing the country’s human
capital, enhancing competitiveness
and protecting the environment.
In a speech to the International
Symposium held in Doha in June
2012, Prime Minister Hamad Bin Jas-sim
Bin Jabr Al Thani emphasised
the important role of the Qatari lead-ership
in transforming the country
into one of the most competitive and
diversified economies in the world.
Qatar, he said, has earned “world-wide
admiration and praise from
international economic and devel-opment
circles for its outstanding
success in achieving a qualitative
economic, social and cultural trans-formation
in less than two decades,
a feat which took several decades to
achieve in other countries.”
Indeed, in less than two decades
the Persian Gulf nation of less than
two million has become the second
wealthiest country in the world meas-ured
by GDP per capita. The country’s
double-digit GDP growth in recent
years has been accompanied by good
governance and competitiveness.
Proof of that is the fact that the World
Economic Forum ranks Qatar as the
most competitive country in the Mid-dle
East and the 14th most competitive
in the world; the World Bank ranks
it as the third country in the Middle
East and 36th worldwide for ease of
doing business; and Transparency In-ternational
as the 22nd most transpar-ent
country in the world, higher than
many OECD countries.
The oil and gas sector remains the
stronghold of the economy and an im-portant
contributor to the state budget,
which is not surprising seeing how
Qatar has significant oil reserves of
25.4 billion barrels, according to the
Oil and Gas Journal. The country is
also home to the third largest reserves
of natural gas in the world and is the
number one exporter of liquefied natu-ral
gas (LNG) worldwide. The sector
has grown exponentially in the last
decade as a result of the government’s
efforts to develop the infrastructure
needed to export LNG to far-away
places like Japan and Belgium, and
to increase the added value of energy
exports by promoting downstream
sectors, particularly the production of
petrochemical products.
But energy only tells part of the sto-ry,
as the contribution of the fast-grow-ing
services sector to the economy is
expected to reach 40 percent by 2015.
This trend illustrates the government’s
ambition to turn Qatar into a knowl-edge
and finance hub in the Middle
East and a centre for Islamic culture.
Since 2003, when the country’s Edu-cation
City was founded, prestigious
international universities like Carnegie
Mellon, Georgetown University and
University College London (UCL)
have opened up branches in Qatar.
These programmes are held to the
same standards as their counterparts in
Western Europe and North America,
but are also in line with Qatar’s devel-opmental
needs and strategic interests.
Meanwhile, the Science and Technolo-gy
Park, located across from Education
City in Doha, hosts R&D operations
of some of the largest multinationals
in the world, including ExxonMobil,
Maersk Oil, Total, Shell, Microsoft,
CISCO, Siemens, Virgin’s stem cells
research centre and Rolls Royce.
But perhaps the most important
growth catalyst in the coming years
will be Qatar’s hosting of the 2022
FIFA World Cup tournament, for
which the government has delegated
to the Qatar 2022 Supreme Commit-tee
the responsibility of supervising
preparations. The committee has
a budget of over $100 billion to be
spent over the next ten years on in-frastructure,
and has already started
works on futuristic-looking stadiums
that encapsulate the spirit of the new
Qatar: innovative, dynamic and glob-ally-
engaged.
Governing Qatar’s monetary policies
The Qatar Central bank has done and still does an exemplary job of managing finances in the country
“We continue to
reiterate our faith in the
pegged exchange rate
regime [with the USD]
after carefully weighing
the benefits against the
costs.”
Sheikh Abdulla Saud Al Thani,
Governor of the Qatar Central
Bank
Qatar seeks
more ImF coop-eration
in region
Finance Minister Sheikh Yousef
Hussain Kamal has called upon the
IMF and the World Bank to take a
“business unusual” approach to-wards
the Arab nations and respond
to their needs with greater flexibil-ity
and speed.
Speaking at the annual meeting
of the International Monetary Fund
and World Bank held in Tokyo in
October, the Finance Minister said
the IMF should review its quota
system, widen the availability of its
global knowledge base and do more
to develop the private sector across
the Arab world.
The Minister, who spoke on be-half
of his Arab colleagues, urged
the two institutions to “take a ‘busi-ness
unusual’ approach and be
ready to go the extra mile at short
notice and in demonstrating more
flexibility with regards to the con-ditions
placed on the Arab countries
by the IMF.”
Specifically, the Minister said the
IMF should review its system of
quotas, which he said “lacks fair-ness.”
He also addressed the issue
of global knowledge – the enor-mous
amount of data, studies and
other resources contained in the
IMF and World Bank. He said these
must be made available in real time,
in Arabic, and should be produced
in collaboration with local country
policymakers and think tanks.
Finally, Sheikh Yousef Hussain
Kanmal urged the two institutions
to improve their efforts to develop
the private sector across the Arab
world.
“We see the private sector as the
main driver for future growth and
the key to realising the region’s po-tential
for robust and sustained job
creation, technological innovation
and regional economic integration
that are urgently needed,” he said.
On broader issues, the Qatari fi-nance
minister said the IMF should
increase its financial support for the
Palestinian Authority, “to help it in
building a viable economy,” and
increase the representation of Arab
nationals both at the Fund and at the
World Bank.
Sheikh Yousef Hussain Kamal,
Minister of Finance
Chancellor Angela
Merkel with Qatari
Prime Minister Sheikh
Hamad bin Jassim bin
Jabr Al Thani

2 QATAR wedneSday, november 28 2012
Positioning Qatar as a regional financial centre
already acknowledged as the best bourse in the mena region, Qatar exchange has a new Ceo to take it towards its goal
onshore banking with
offshore benefits
The Qatar Financial Centre authority promotes the expansion of the
country’s financial services sector
The world’s most famous financial cen-tres
are well established: London, New
York, Frankfurt, Singapore. Many coun-tries
are actively promoting the forma-tion
of their own financial centres, and
few have been more successful than Qa-tar
in such a short time, which passed the
law setting up the Qatar Financial Centre
(QFC) in 2005.
Since then, the Qatari government
and the QFC have invested heavily in
providing financial services companies
with the most modern legal, financial
and physical infrastructure possible,
permitting companies to move into the
region to establish themselves quickly
and smoothly.
The QFC is comprised of three main
parts: the QFC Authority, which is the
commercial arm of the centre; an in-dependent
financial regulator, known
as the QFC Regulatory Authority; and
an independent judiciary made up of
a Civil and Commercial Court and a
Regulatory Tribunal.
The combination of physical, legal
and regulatory structures set up by
the QFC provides financial institu-tions
with the vital environment they
need to establish operations profitably
in the Gulf Coast Council (GCC) re-gion,
which boasts one of the world’s
fastest-growing economies and will be
the destination for billions of dollars of
investment in coming years.
“Those in the financial services in-dustry
like to be in close proximity to
each other, but need a proper environ-ment
to thrive,” says Shashank Sriv-astava,
Chief Executive Officer of the
QFC Authority. “I believe we have
created the right legal and regulatory
environment that allows the companies
to not only access the domestic market
with their international companies but
also the regional international markets.”
The QFC provides companies with
an onshore trading environment with
a strong legal sector based on Eng-lish
common law, a principles-based
regulatory structure and a low tax of
10 percent on locally sourced profit.
Profits can be freely remitted outside
the country and the law allows 100
percent foreign ownership by foreign
companies and places no restrictions
on dealing in any currency.
Qatar has double-taxation agree-ments
with more than 35 coun-tries,
providing still more benefits
for companies, and their employ-ees,
that relocate to the country.
Employees can also enjoy a high
quality of living, with top-notch,
reasonably-priced housing, af-fordable
healthcare and many in-ternational
schools.
This highly desirable offer has already
attracted many well-known interna-tional
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financial institutions, with more
than 165 licenses issued since 2005 to
both local firms and companies from
abroad. The list includes Allianz, AXA,
Barclays Capital, Citibank, Credit Sui-sse,
Deutsche Bank, ICBC, JP Morgan,
Kane, KPMG, Marsh, Mitsui Sumito-mo,
Morgan Stanley, Pricewaterhouse-
Coopers, UBS and Zurich FS.
The QFC Authority has been so
successful at setting up and promot-ing
the financial centre that it has won
the Best Financial Centre in the Mid-dle
East award from Global Investor
magazine, the flagship publication of
the prestigious Euromoney group, in
2011 and in 2012.
“We are extremely proud to be rec-ognised
as the best financial centre in
the Middle East by such a highly re-garded
industry publication,” says Mr
Srivastava. “Winning this award for a
second year in succession is welcome
recognition of the progress we are con-tinuing
to make in building a world
class financial centre and the leading
platform to capitalise on the emerging
opportunities in the Middle East.”
The QFC is also busily planning for
the future. Financial centres need well
established legal and regulatory frame-works
to function, but they also need a
large pool of talent, and the centre has
already taken important steps towards
providing such a group of well edu-cated
people.
The Qatar Finance and Business
Academy was started in partnership
between the QFCA and the Qatar
Foundation for Education, Science and
Community Development. The school
will provide education and certification
for students, and its courses are com-pletely
focused on financial services.
Shashank Srivastava,
CEO and Board Member of the
Qatar Financial Centre Authority
Just a couple of weeks after his
appointment as CEO of Qatar Ex-change,
Rashid bin Ali Al Man-soori,
found himself at Doha’s St
Regis Hotel collecting Global In-vestor’s
highly prestigious Middle
East “Exchange of the Year” award.
It’s the second time Qatar Ex-change
(QE) has walked off with
the title, which it also won in 2010,
after being picked by investors as
the best stock exchange in the Mid-dle
East and North Africa (MENA)
region.
The award highlighted QE’s
role as a significant player in the
regional exchange space and the
efforts it has made to enhance the
quality and depth of Qatar’s capi-tal
market, as well as support local
companies.
In the longer term, however, the
Qatar Exchange is part of a wider
vision of creating a world-class fi-nancial
centre around a global ex-change,
in the same league as the
leading capital markets in Europe,
the US, and Asia.
To this end, the exchange has
launched a series of initiatives. It
has successfully implemented the
delivery-versus-payment system
to enhance the efficiency of the
settlement process, opened up the
market to allow banks to re-enter
as brokers, and introduced direct
payment of dividends into the bank
accounts of investors.
Other developments include list-ing
short-term Treasury Bills to
attract the attention of banks and
financial institutions as well as in-vestors,
and preparations to launch
government, and eventually corpo-rate,
bonds.
Securities lending and borrow-ing,
along with liquidity provi-sion
schemes, have also been in-troduced.
Earlier this year, the
exchange launched its ambitious
Venture Market, a separate junior
bourse for small and medium-sized
enterprises (SMEs), whose growth
is vitally important to Qatar’s de-velopment
of a diversified national
economy.
The choice of Al Mansoori as
QE’s new CEO fits with the gener-al
policy of appointing highly qual-ified
Qataris to leading positions in
government and semi government
institutions. He brings consider-able
administrative and technical
experience to the role, and for the
previous 18 months served as QE’s
deputy CEO.
QE was established in 2009 as
a successor to the Doha Securities
Market. It is jointly owned by Qa-tar
Holding, the strategic and direct
investment arm of Qatar Invest-ment
Authority, and the New York
Stock Exchange operator, NYSE
Euronext, whose 20 percent stake
– at $200 million – represented the
largest investment it had ever made
in a foreign exchange.
QE benefits from NYSE Eu-ronext’s
renowned trading systems
and technology. It is the first ex-change
outside the NYSE Euronext
family of exchanges to utilize the
Universal Trading Platform (UTP),
now used by every NYSE Euronext
market around the world.
The intention to transform QE
into an internationally recognized
exchange has been there from the
start. Qatar is expected to be the
second-largest economy among
the GCC countries by 2015, mak-ing
it an ideal location for a major
capital market in one of the world’s
fastest-growing regions.
It is this potential that has drawn
in NYSE Euronext, which is com-mitted
to use Doha as its Middle
East operational and support hub.
QE currently has 41 listed com-panies,
with banks and insurance
companies featuring prominently,
and the real estate, consumer goods
and services, and transport sectors
also represented. For the three
quarters up to September 30, 2012,
the combined net profit of all the
companies – with the exception of
Vodafone Qatar, whose financial
year starts in April – amounted to
$7.82 billion, an increase of 1.8
percent over the corresponding pe-riod
in 2011.
QE has also collaborated in de-veloping
a legislative framework
to give investors a variety of tools,
including exchange-traded funds
and real estate investment trusts,
while promoting transparency in
the market.
Listed companies from neigh-bouring
GCC countries are show-ing
an interest. QE has already
begun talks with a number of GCC-listed
companies who are actively
working towards listing here in
Qatar.
Experts suggest there might soon
be a renewed effort towards initial
public offerings (IPOs) in Qatar.
Barwa Bank is among the major
Qatari companies that have pub-licly
discussed a listing on QE.
Talks have also been taking place
with some of the key businesses in
the SME sector about listing on the
new Venture Market. QE’s manage-ment
emphasises the importance of
enhancing liquidity in the market,
and the exchange is already work-ing
with the regulator to address
concerns about the need for greater
liquidity provision.
QE is ready for securities lending
and borrowing to attract more for-eign
investments, and applications
have been made by three entities to
act as liquidity providers.
ProjeCT dIreCTor:
nathalie martin-bea
At year end 2011, the Qatar Exchange had a market capitalisation of over QR457 billion (EUR 97.4 billion)
Celebrating its 15th
year, the Qatar
Exchange was the
best performing stock
exchange in the
MENA region in 2010
and 2011

WEdnEsday, nOVEMBER 28 2012 QATAR 3
QIB: the benchmark
Islamic bank in Qatar
Its anniversary year finds Qatar Islamic Bank renewed and ready to
exploit opportunities for growth in Qatar and beyond
While the rapid expansion of Islamic
finance is a relatively recent phenom-enon,
Qatar Islamic Bank, the Gulf
Arab state’s largest Shariah-compli-ant
lender by assets, this year marks
its 30th anniversary.
Established in 1982, QIB has long
been at the forefront of the Islamic
banking industry, extending its ac-tivities
from Qatar and the Gulf to the
Middle East, Asia, Europe, and North
Africa.
The bank defines itself as “the
benchmark Islamic bank in Qatar”,
and experts agree. Global Finance this
year named it Best Islamic Financial
Institution in Qatar, recognising the
bank’s contribution to the growth of
Islamic banking both locally and in-ternationally,
while The Asset maga-zine
awarded it Best Bank in Qatar.
Last year it was named Best Islamic
Bank in Qatar for 2011 at the Islamic
Finance News (IFN) awards.
Despite the plaudits, QIB’s anniver-sary
year does not find the bank resting
on its laurels. Indeed, recently it has
been undertaking a transformation pro-gramme
in order to take full advantage
of the promising growth opportunities
in Qatar and beyond.
With paid-up capital of QR2,360
million ($648 million), and a well-dis-tributed
network of 30 branches, QIB
holds a 36 percent share of the Islamic
banking market in Qatar, and an ap-proximate
market share of 10 percent.
Along with offering a wide range of
products and services for individuals,
the bank is active in financing for busi-nesses
of all sizes, from major corpora-tions
to small and medium-sized enter-prises,
and micro enterprises, as well as
participating in joint financing projects
with other financial institutions.
One of the largest initiatives of na-tional
importance to which it has con-tributed
is the Barzan Gas project, being
implemented as a joint venture between
Qatar Petroleum and ExxonMobil Qa-tar.
“The bank continues
to show significant
growth, stable and
well diversified
revenue streams, and
positive results.”
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QIB provided $500 million to fi-nance
the project, which is the biggest
portion of the total Islamic tranche of
$850 million.
More recently, in August, QIB signed
a $380 million package for the Qatar
Gas Transport Company (Nakilat) in
partnership with Qatar International
Islamic Bank (QIIB). QIB has also ex-tended
a $500 million Islamic financing
package to Qtel.
The bank’s sound financial position
and business strategy is reflected in its
rating from international ratings agen-cies.
In August, Fitch Ratings affirmed
QIB’s long-term issuer default rating at
‘A’ with a stable outlook, and viability
rating at ‘bbb’.
Standard Poor’s, rating the bank
for the first time, recently assigned its
‘A-’ long-term and ‘A-2’ short-term
counterparty credit ratings to QIB
with a stable outlook rating on the
long-term. SP hailed QIB’s leading
position in the Qatari Islamic banking
segment, and its business model and
management.
Financial results for the nine months
ended 30 September 2012 show QIB
realised a net profit of QR1.13 bil-lion
($310 million), a rise of 2 percent
compared to same period last year. The
bank’s total assets increased by 26.7
percent to stand at QR 66.8 billion
($18.3 billion), while customer deposits
show 50 percent growth at QR39.9 bil-lion
($10.9 billion).
Sheikh Jassim Bin Hamad Bin Jas-sim
Bin Jaber Al Thani, QIB’s Chair-man,
says, “The bank continues to
show significant growth, stable and
well diversified revenue streams, and
positive results.”
QIB has also recently been celebrating
the hugely successful first tranche of its
new $1.5 billion Islamic bonds (sukuk)
programme, a $750 million 5-year sukuk
priced at a profit rate of 2.5 percent – the
lowest profit rate ever achieved by any
GCC financial institution.
Marking QIB’s return to global debt
markets after two years, the sukuk
aroused enormous interest from interna-tional
as well as regional investors, with
strong participation from Asia and the
MENA region, and also from Europe.
With the final book reaching $6 billion,
the issue was 8 times oversubscribed in
a year when there has been no shortage
of Middle East sukuk issues. Sheikh
Jassim says the sukuk programme will
enable the bank to further contribute to
Qatar’s economic growth both at home
and internationally.
a financial bridge between
the region and the world
ambitious plans for growth in the region and beyond have always
been part of the plan for Masraf aI Rayan
Masraf Al Rayan, one of Qatar’s
largest banks, set itself the goal of
becoming an international Islamic
finance institution right from when
it was established seven years ago.
“Because of what was going on
in the whole region in terms of
growth, and particularly in Qatar,
we needed a mega-sized bank to
cater to Islamic and non-Islamic
customers,” says Adel Mustafawi,
the bank’s Group CEO. “From the
very beginning, our strategy was
to start from Qatar, then expand
to the GCC, other countries in the
Middle East UK, building the
real economy through the financial
sector.”
Today, Masraf Al Rayan has
become one of Qatar’s largest Is-lamic
banks, with a market share
by assets estimated at 10 percent at
year-end 2011. It was the first bank
in Qatar to have shareholders from
Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain,
UAE and Oman, in addition to its
domestic base of shareholders.
The Doha-based lender makes
no secret of its interest in making
acquisitions in other GCC coun-tries
and beyond.
Currently, it is working on a plan
to enter the UK market by acquir-ing
a 70 percent holding in Islamic
Bank of Britain (IBB), in a deal in
which the Government of Qatar
would secure the remainder of the
shares. This would be the bank’s
first advance beyond the GCC,
giving it a foothold in the Euro-pean
market.
While Mustafawi insists Masraf
Al Rayan won’t be rushing into
Europe, it could be an attractive
prospect for the bank in the longer
term, given the potential for Is-lamic
banking in countries like
Germany and France. In the mean-time,
he has noticed an increasing
number of international investors
taking an interest in ethical Islamic
financial institutions.
“International investors are be-coming
increasingly aware of
Islamic products,” he observes.
“They see it as an ethical, less
risky kind of banking that serves
to benefit both the client and the
financial institution.”
Masraf Al Rayan’s results for the
first nine months of the year show
net profit up 7 percent to QR1.08
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Barwa Bank, the fastest growing bank in Qatar 2012
The decision by the Central Bank of
Qatar ordering conventional banks
out of the Islamic finance market has
helped Qatar’s newest Shariah-com-pliant
lender become the Gulf state’s
fastest growing bank.
Barwa Bank was among the first
to benefit from the QCB’s surprise
ruling last year, instructing conven-tional
banks to close their Islamic
windows. In what was later deemed
Qatar Deal of the Year by Islamic
Finance News, the bank simulta-neously
boosted its customer base
and expanded its network from one
branch to six by acquiring Interna-tional
Bank of Qatar’s Al Yusr Is-lamic
retail banking operations in
August last year.
In June this year, it won the award
for Fastest Growing Bank in Qatar
at the Banker Middle East Indus-try
Awards, and in September was
named Fastest Growing Company at
the Arabian Business Qatar Awards.
“We have seen a reduction in com-petition
in a market that is growing
faster than conventional banking,”
says CEO Steve Troop. “It is a great
place to be, and we intend to real-ise
the opportunities as much as we
can.”
With authorised capital of QR6
billion ($1.6 billion), and total eq-uity
of QR5.1 billion ($1.4 billion),
Barwa Bank offers a full range of fi-nancing
services in retail, business,
corporate and private banking.
The velocity of the bank’s rise is
reflected in its financial results for
2011, which recorded a 882 per cent
rise in net profit to QR244 million
($67 million), compared with QR25
million ($6.86 million) in 2010.
When the bank launched a QR1.7
million ($467 million) rights issue
last year to fund expansion, its offer
of 109.1 million new shares to exist-ing
shareholders was oversubscribed
by 13 percent.
Barwa Bank is an associate com-pany
of Barwa Real Estate, the Mid-dle
East’s biggest property company
by assets, which is its most signifi-cant
shareholder. It also has an in-direct
relationship with Qatari Diar,
the real estate arm of the Qatar In-vestment
Authority, through its other
prominent shareholder, Qatar Hold-ing,
the sovereign wealth fund’s in-vestment
subsidiary.
These are important connections
for the bank. “We are committed
corporate bankers, so we are in-volved
very much in lending to large
corporations and businesses here in
Qatar,” says Mr Troop.
Barwa Bank’s investment banking
arm, The First Investor (TFI), raised
financing for the $700 million Cit-yCenterDC
development in Wash-ington
DC, one of the largest urban
rejuvenation projects in the United
States, for which Qatari Diar is the
anchor investor. TFI has also started
a property fund in Brazil as a joint
initiative with the US-based Hines
International Real Estate Holdings.
At home, Barwa Bank participates
in Qatar’s economic development,
including working with Hochtief,
the German construction company,
based in Essen. “Much of the activity
is associated with major infrastruc-ture
projects, but not exclusively,”
says Mr Troop.
The bank has also developed a
strong focus on assisting small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs),
and was one of the first to sign up to
Qatar Development Bank’s Al Dha-meen
scheme for start-ups, an indirect
lending facility to guarantee commer-cial
bank loans to the private sector.
Mr Troop says that at present
Barwa Bank is essentially a do-mestic
institution, but its long-term
ambitions will eventually see it es-tablishing
offices beyond Qatar’s
national boundaries.
“We have lots to do before we think
about expanding internationally. I
would stress, however, that we are am-bitious
and wish to grow. We can only
go so far in this market, and inevitably
we will go international,” he says.
Meanwhile, since establishing
its Islamic Capital Markets plat-form
earlier this year, the bank has
emerged as a key player in the grow-ing
market for Shariah-compliant
bonds, known as sukuks.
In September, it was appointed
co-lead manager for the Republic
of Turkey’s first sukuk, a $1.5 bil-lion
issue, following its involve-ment
in high-profile sukuks for the
Government of Dubai, the State of
Qatar, Saudi-based Islamic Develop-ment
Bank, and real estate developer
Emaar Properties.
Bloomberg Islamic Finance league
tables rank Barwa Bank among the top
10 arrangers for international, global
and MENA region sukuk issues.
awards for Qatar’s newest Islamic lender as it builds on a remarkably successful entry into the market
billion ($297.418 million) com-pared
to the same period in 2011.
Financing activities increased
nearly 32 percent to QR37.86 bil-lion,
while customer deposits rose
more than 29 percent to QR51.72
billion, from QR40 billion.
Offering a full range of retail,
corporate, private banking and
investment banking services, the
bank has been creative and innova-tive
in terms of its products. “We
compete with conventional banks
in terms of the type of products
that we offer,” says Mustafawi.
It is extending its nationwide
branch network and, in the wake of
Qatar’s conventional banks being
ordered to cease offering Islamic
banking services, has launched a
brokerage arm, Al Rayan Financial
Brokerage Company.
Moody’s Investors Service says
Masraf Al Rayan is well placed to
benefit from the strong economic
growth in Qatar. Recently upgrad-ing
the bank’s credit rating to A2
Prime-1 from A3 Prime-2, it cited
the quality of its assets, a growing
domestic franchise in the corporate
market in Qatar, and “strong finan-cial
fundamentals, in comparison
with its peers.”
Mustafawi says Masraf Al Rayan
will be one of the fastest-growing
financial institutions in the region,
extending its activities across the
Qatari economy.
“Our strategy is to link the real
economy with the financial sec-tor,”
he says. “We are going to ex-pand
into other sectors. Today, we
are into oil and gas services – we
have a joint venture with an inter-national
company. We are also in-volved
in a real estate development
with another international compa-ny.
We have a facilities manage-ment
company, an insurance com-pany
and an industrial company.”
Steve Troop,
CEO of Barwa Bank
COnvEnTiOnAl BAnking SySTEm (inTEREST-BASEd SySTEm)
not based on religious laws or guidelines – only secular banking laws.
([FHVVLYHXVHRIFUHGLWDQGGHEWÀQDQFLQJFDQOHDGWRÀQDQFLDOSUREOHPV
not generally available through commercial banks. Venture capital companies and investment
EDQNVWSLFDOOWDNHFRQWURORIDQHQWHUSULVHIRUVWDUWXSÀQDQFH
Trading and dealing in derivatives of various forms is allowed.
This principle is not applied. Returns to depositors do not depend on the bank’s performance.
7KHFXVWRPHUGRHVQRWVKDUHSURÀWEHRQGSUHGHWHUPLQDWHGLQWHUHVWUDWHV
3URÀWDQGORVVVKDULQJ
iSlAmiC BAnking SySTEm
Based on shari’a laws. shari’a scholars ensure adherence to Islamic laws and provide guidance.
7KHUHTXLUHPHQWWRÀQDQFHSKVLFDODVVHWVWKURXJKEDQNRZQHUVKLSSULRUWRUHVDOHUHGXFHV
overextension of credit.
available to provide equity capital to a project or venture. Losses are shared on the basis of equity
SDUWLFLSDWLRQZKLOHSURÀWVDUHVKDUHGRQDSUHDJUHHGUDWLR
Transactions deemed Gharar are prohibited. Gharar denotes varying degrees of deception
pertaining to the price and quality of goods received by a party at the expense of the other.
Returns are dependent on bank perfomance and not guaranteed. Risks are managed to ensure better
UHWXUQVWKDQGHSRVLWDFFRXQWV7KHSURÀWXSVLGHLVPRUHHTXLWDEOHWKDQSUHGHWHUPLQHGUHWXUQV
“Our strategy is to
link the real economy
with the financial
sector. We are going
to expand into other
sectors.”
Adel mustafawi,
group CEO of masraf Al
Rayan
Source: Abu Dhabi Investment Bank

QATAR
4 wednesday, november 28 2012
solidity and growth at
the national bank
Qatar national bank is on its way to becoming an icon
in the middle eastern financial sector
ahli bank and the
results of excellence
since 1983, ahlibank has served its clients through a full array of
products and services within major business segments
It may not be the biggest, but in
only 30 years, Ahli Bank QSC
has become one of the key firms
in the financial sector in Qatar.
The bank was founded in 1983
with the purpose of providing
banking services tailor-made for
the needs of the country. Ahli
Bank boasts a large integrated
network of 17 branches in Qatar
offering a host of products and
services from corporate bank-ing,
treasury and investments
and retail to private banking and
wealth management.
The bank is listed in the Qatar
Stock Exchange, with a market
capitalisation of nearly QR 6.2
billion or EUR 1.34 billion as at
November, 2012.
From the origin of the bank,
it was clear that Ahli Bank was
born with a strong focus on the
corporate and financial seg-ments.
Qatar has experienced
an economic boom supported
by the oil and gas industry. The
country needed the help of the
financial sector to get funds for
developing major infrastructure
projects. Some analysts expect
that Qatar will still see strong
lending growth in the next dec-ade,
so the future of the busi-ness
of Ahli Bank at home is
guaranteed.
According to SICO Research,
a division of the Bahrain-based
regional investment bank, Se-curities
Investment Company
(SICO), Qatar has indicated
that it will be undertaking ma-jor
infrastructure projects worth
QR820 billion or EUR 177 bil-lion
over the next five years.
This should lead to strong credit
demand growth, in the area of
18 to 20 percent compound an-nual
growth rate (CAGR) during
2011-2016, the report said.
But Ahli Bank also has a
growing retail customer busi-ness.
Last year, the bank report-ed
net profit of QR 442 million
or EUR 95 million, the highest
in the company’s history. Ahli
Bank’s profits are still growing:
during the first nine months of
2012 net profit grew 5 percent
from the same period last year,
to QR 367 million or EUR 79.2
million.
Ahli Bank has been recent-ly
awarded the coveted “Best
Commercial Bank in Qatar” by
leading international finance
magazine World Finance and by
Arabian Business at the pres-tigious
Arabian Business Qatar
Awards. The awards comes in
recognition of Ahli Bank’s con-tinuous
commitment towards
providing excellent services to
its banking customers, and its
vision to implement internation-al
best practices to ensure the
delivery of trusted commercial
banking services.
If we examine the financial
data, these awards come as no
surprise. It’s worth noting, for
example, the growth in total as-sets,
to QR 19.7 billion or EUR
4.3 billion at the end of the last
quarter, even after the Qatar
Central Bank last year ordered
conventional banks to close
their Islamic Banking operations
by the end of 2011. Ahli Bank is
the fifth Qatari lender by assets.
The growth of the business has
been also healthy. Ahli Bank has
a capital adequacy ratio of 22.1
percent NPL (Non Performing
Loan). Coverage stood at 99
percent as of December 2011,
something far from the num-bers
of the banking system in
Europe. This performance was
recognised by the international
rating agencies when Fitch re-affirmed
the bank’s credit rat-ing
of A- with a stable outlook,
only two notches lower than
Deutsche Bank, for example.
But even in Qatar, the financial
system may face some handicaps.
Experts expect some problems
to access the funding. Accord-ing
to a recent research report by
Citi, “as Qatar proceeds with its
expansionary strategy, the do-mestic
banking system is facing
growing challenges to support
funding the country’s ambitious
growth strategy. Strong credit
growth averaging more than 30
percent over the last 18 months,
which has largely outpaced that
of customer deposits (averag-ing
17 percent over the same
period), resulted in a sharp rise
in loan-to-deposits ratios (LDR),
exceeding 120 percent at end-
June 2012,” said the analyst of
the bank.
But the executives of the
banks expect a very encouraging
performance for the bank and
they think the business could
benefit from the government’s
budget spending for the fiscal
year 2012-2013. In fact, they
see many investment opportuni-ties
in the local market.
2011 was a
landmark year for
Ahli Bank, as it
posted a net profit of
some EUR 95 million,
the highest in the
bank’s history
If you haven’t already heard of Qatar
National Bank (QNB), you soon will,
as the lender is quickly expanding
its footprint in the Middle East and
North Africa (MENA) region. And
if it continues to grow at the current
pace, QNB will soon become one of
the biggest global banks.
QNB was founded in 1964 with
one clear objective: to help Qatar
reach its potential. Fifty years later,
it has become a global bank, offering
retail, corporate and investment bank-ing
services.
From the start, the lender has had
a stable shareholder structure, with a
50 percent stake owned by the Qatar
Investment Authority. Over a half
century, the bank has climbed to first
place in the Qatari stock market, with
a market capitalisation of over $25
billion. At the beginning of 2012, the
bank announced its new strategic plan
for the next five years, which aims to
make QNB Group a benchmark in
Middle East and Africa.
Already the largest financial insti-tution
in the MENA region with total
assets of QR350 billion (EUR75.3
billion) in June 2012, QNB also has
the largest international network of
any bank in the region, covering
countries in the MENA region, Eu-rope
(France, Switzerland and United
Kingdom) and Asia.
And on top of that, QNB has the
largest market share in the domes-tic
business. The bank’s net profit is
equal to nearly half the total profit of
the 18 banks in the country and more
than the half of their deposits, credit
and loans.
The bank’s obsession with growth
may have been derived from the need
to diversify revenues in order to face
the obstacles that may arise in Qatar.
According to some experts, the Qatari
banks’ margin spreads are expected to
come under pressure during the sec-ond
half of 2012 and through 2013,
driven by asset spread contraction.
A Citi report suggests “margins are
likely to contract by between 20 and
30 basis points in 2012, due to factors
which include a lower demand for
higher-yielding local currency loans,
and a balance sheet shift towards low-er-
yielding public sector lending.”
On a systemic level, the report
notes, a move by national banks to in-crease
their lending towards the pub-lic
sector will negatively impact their
asset yields. Coupled with a decline
in public sector deposits, and funding
through more expensive private sec-tor
liabilities, should further shrink
banks’ net interest margins.
If QNB continues with its current
hunger for growth, its international
position will be much larger in the
near future. Within the space of a few
months, QNB has begun the due dili-gence
process to acquire the Egyptian
unit of Societe Generale; increased its
holding in the Dubai-based Commer-cial
Bank International to 40 percent;
acquired an increasing stake in Man-sour
Bank of Iraq to 51 percent; and
acquired a 49 percent stake in Libya’s
Bank of Commerce Development.
It seems QNB is doing its job well,
as the latest results show a robust pace
of growth. In the first nine months
of 2012, net profit rose to QR 6,228
million from QR5,417 million a year
earlier.
Early in 2012 this performance
was recognised by the magazine The
Banker, which ranked QNB Group
as the region’s most valued bank-ing
brand. In 2012, QNB leaped
five places to become the number
one brand in the region, and moved
up 77 places to 114th amongst the
world’s top 500 banking brands.
In a world obsessed with the safe-ty
in the financial sector, it’s worth
pointing out that QNB Group has
also been named one of the World’s
50 safest banks, according to Global
Finance magazine. The ranking was
created through an evaluation of long-term
established
1997
Total assets (Q4 2011)
Qr3.7 bn
Qatar development bank
established
1982
Qr66.8 bn
Qatar Islamic bank
established
2006
Qr61.4 bn
masraf al rayan
Qr351 bn
Qnb
established
1964
credit ratings – from Moody’s
(Aa3), Standard Poor’s (A+) and
Fitch Ratings (A+) – of the 500 larg-est
banks worldwide.
The quality of QNB’s assets, along
with the good projections for the fu-ture,
are aligned with its current
credit ratings, which are
the highest in the region
and on a par with
the best global
f i n a n c i a l
institu-tions.
Ali Shareef Al-Emadi,
CEO of Qatar National Bank
Sheikh Faisal bin Abdul Aziz bin
Jassem Al Thani,
Chairman of Ahli Bank
a non-profit financial institution,
Qdb is mandated to accelerate the
development of the private sector in
line with Qatar’s national vision.
named best Islamic bank in Qatar
for 2011, QIb holds a 36% share of
the Islamic banking market in Qatar,
and a 10% overall market share.
This is one of Qatar’s largest Islamic
banks. In october, moody’s upgraded
masraf al rayan’s ratings to a2/
Prime-1 with a stable outlook.
The largest bank in the mena region,
Qnb was named the region’s most
valued banking brand by The banker
earlier this year.

wednesday, november 28 2012 QATAR 5
Qatar’s ‘next
generation bank’
al Khaliji offers next-generation banking by blending
tradition with innovation
This past summer, Qatar’s al khaliji
surprised the banking world once
again by offering three 150-gram
gold bars – one a year for three
years – to customers taking out a
new mortgage loan. The bank’s
Golden Reward product empha-sised
the exclusive service targeted
at affluent and high net worth cus-tomers
provided by this leading fi-nancial
institution. Indeed, al khaliji
took home the Best Premium Bank-ing
Service at the annual Banker
Middle East Product Awards this
year, capping what has been a pio-neering,
and highly successful, four
years for this young bank.
Launched in just 2008, al khaliji
promoted itself as the “next gener-ation
bank”, catching the financial
world’s attention out of the gate by
offering Qatar’s first eco-friendly
ATMs, featuring environmentally
friendly nanotechnology screen
displays, power and paper saving
features. Its Fusion account was
the first interest-bearing service
to combine the benefits of both a
savings and checking account. The
following year, the bank launched
two more innovative products,
both linked to gold prices: the
country’s first wealth management
guaranteed structured product and
a structured deposit, which was
heavily oversubscribed. By early
2010, al khaliji was ranked third
in Qatar for performance by CPI
Financial.
By 2011, al khaliji had posi-tioned
itself at the forefront of
innovative banking. Its Qatar-centric,
corporate and treasury
led approach and customer-fo-cused
strategy had resulted in
incredible outcomes, and its
executives were being sought
after in regional and global
conferences for their input
and expertise. The bank con-tinued
to surprise the finan-cial
world with its growth,
recording a net profit of
QR427 million ($117 mil-lion)
for 2010, up 155
“Our clear business
strategy is aligned to
the economic reality
of the region.”
Robin McCall,
Group CEO of al khaliji
percent over 2009. Also in 2011,
the bank’s investor website was
ranked as number one across the
Middle East, and at the beginning
of 2012, Fitch awarded al khaliji
with a Long Term Issuer Default
Rating of ‘A-’, a bank milestone.
This trailblazing trajectory was
capped by CPI’s award for its pre-mium
service this past spring. In
fact, the product is a full package
of services comprised of seven
different components under one
brand: a dedicated relationship
manager, access to upgraded and
exclusive Premium centres at the
branches, wealth management ser-vices,
preferential rates on all types
of loans, family benefits, and com-plimentary
‘Priority Pass’ mem-bership.
Additionally, the premier
service is convenient Doorstep
Banking, which provides for resi-dential
or place of work visits from
the client’s dedicated relationship
manager, eliminating the need for
branch visits.
Headquartered in Doha and list-ed
on the Qatar Exchange since
2007, al khaliji offers a full range
of banking products and services
to premium, business, corporate
and international customers in
Qatar. Its subsidiary in Paris, Al
Khaliji France, boasts a network
of branches in the UAE covering
Dubai, Sharjah, Ras Al Khaima
and Abu Dhabi, providing cus-tomers
and businesses with local,
regional and international bank-ing
services. The group boasted
QR27.8 billion ($7.63 billion) in
total assets and QR12.7 billion
($3.48 billion) in customer depos-its
as of 30th June 2012.
From the time it launched opera-tions
in 2008, al khaliji has shown
growth in every quarter. Manage-ment’s
stated intention is to remain
focused on major corporate and
business clients by offering them
financing solutions directed to
their particular needs. The bank’s
quarterly results continue to reflect
the success of this strategy.
On the release of third quarter
2012 results, in which al khaliji
showed an increase in net profit of
5 percent to QR378 million ($103
million), Group CEO Robin Mc-
Call comments: “al khaliji’s core
business is Qatar-centric with a
GCC coverage model. This sin-gle
market has experienced robust
growth rates and our sentiment for
sustained returns remains positive
given the strong underlying fun-damentals.
Qatar’s hydrocarbon
wealth and planned economic di-versification
bolstered by signifi-cant
infrastructure build-out in the
coming years will drive growth in
the banking sector.”
Growth that reflects
a robust economy
established in 1975, Commercialbank has invested in diversification
and human capital, providing a strong foundation for growth
Commercialbank, Qatar’s largest pri-vate
sector bank, has recorded a profit
every year since incorporation in 1975.
Today, with Qatar’s economy expand-ing
at a robust pace, Commercialbank’s
sound business strategy and diversifi-cation
are allowing it to share in that
growth.
The bank’s results for the first nine
months of 2012, showed a 4 percent
increase in net profit over the same pe-riod
the year before. Assets rose 8 per-cent,
while loans and deposits grew 17
and 13 percent, respectively.
On their own, the results were un-questionably
solid, but given that 2011
was the bank’s best year to date – with
a 15 percent jump in profit – the figures
are even more remarkable. His Excel-lency,
Abdullah Bin Khalifa Al Attiyah,
Chairman of Commercialbank reiter-ated
his belief that Commercialbank’s
success reflects the strength of Qatar’s
economy and the bank’s strategic rea-lignment
within it.
The Chairman said the bank has
played an integral role in the growth
and prosperity of Qatar for several
decades, and that it remains committed
to playing a central role in the devel-opment
and diversification of Qatar’s
economy.
“Qatar’s economy has grown stead-ily
in the third quarter, although at a
slower rate than in the first half of the
year, with demand for credit facili-ties
continuing to be mainly from the
Public Sector. Commercialbank has,
however, successfully identified op-portunities
to grow its loan book and
its revenues, delivering strong results
for the first nine months of the year. We
will look to maintain this momentum
for the remainder of 2012,” he said.
Headquartered in Doha, Commer-cialbank
has total assets of QR 76.4
billion ($20.98 billion) as of 30 Sep-tember
2012. The bank offers a com-prehensive
range of financial services,
including corporate, retail and invest-ment
services, as well as owning and
operating exclusive Diners Club fran-chises
in Qatar and Oman.
A strong capital base and decades of
expertise have allowed Commercial-bank
to take a cutting-edge role in Qa-tari
finance. The bank currently offers
banking services through a network
of 29 branches, 162 ATMs, Internet
Banking, Mobile Banking and the larg-est
EFTPOS network in the country. In
2011 the bank underwent a strategic
realignment of its corporate and retail
businesses and entered into the bancas-surance
market.
These decisions are now paying off,
said Hussain Al Fardan, Commercial-bank’s
Managing Director. He added,
“The operating environment in Qatar
continues to be challenging but Com-mercialbank
has delivered a positive
performance in the year to date with
higher earnings, growth in lending and
strong asset quality. The bank remains
well positioned for continued growth in
the remainder of the year.”
A successful diversification strategy
has also expanded Commercialbank’s
GCC footprint through a 34.9 per-cent
established
2009
Qr21.5 bn
barwa bank
established
1983
Qr 19.7 bn
ahli bank QsC
Qr32 bn
al khaliji
established
2008
established
1975
Qr76.4 bn
Commercialbank
shareholding in National Bank
of Oman (NBO) in Oman and a 40
percent shareholding in United Arab
Bank (UAB) in the United Arab Emir-ates,
both of which are strongly posi-tioned
to grow their businesses in their
respective domestic markets. NBO is
the second largest bank in Oman with
66 branches in that country along with
three branches in Egypt and one in Abu
Dhabi, while Sharjah-based UAB op-erates
15 branches across the emirates.
NBO and UAB contributed QR 190
million to Commercialbank’s net prof-it,
according to the September report,
a 12 percent increase from NBO and
a 32 percent jump by UAB. Andrew
Stevens, Commercialbank’s Group
CEO, commented, “Commercialbank
maintained the progress seen in the first
half of the year to deliver a record nine
month profit at 30 September 2012,
and our affiliated banks in Oman and
the UAE again delivered outstanding
financial performances for the same
period with strong growth in profit-ability
and lending. For the remainder
of 2012, we will continue to focus on
growing our domestic corporate and
retail businesses and developing the
strength of our regional alliance.”
Commercialbank enjoys strong
credit ratings of (A) from Fitch, (A1)
from Moody’s and (A-) from Stand-ard
Poor’s. The bank is listed on
the Qatar Exchange and was the first
Qatari bank to list its Global Deposi-tory
Receipts as well as bonds on the
London Stock Exchange. Additionally,
Commercialbank’s Swiss Franc bond
issuance in December 2010, listed on
the SIX Swiss Exchange, was the first
public bond issuance by a Qatari bank
in Switzerland. In 2011, the bank was
awarded the JP Morgan Quality Rec-ognition
Award for Operational Excel-lence
for the seventh consecutive year.
“Our affiliated banks
in Oman and the UAE
have, again, delivered
outstanding financial
performances. ”
Andrew Stevens,
CEO of Commercialbank
Part of the barwa Group, barwa bank
is Qatar’s fastest-growing bank. net
profits for 2011 were 882 percent
higher than those posted in 2010.
recently named “best Commercial
bank in Qatar”, ahli bank enjoys a
credit rating of a- with a stable
outlook from Fitch.
In al khaliji’s second year, CPI Financial
already ranked the bank third in Qatar
for performance. In 2012, Fitch gave it a
Long Term Issuer default rating of a-.
This bank boasts strong credit rat-ings.
Fitch, moody’s and standard
Poor’s have awarded Commercial-bank
a, a1 and a-, respectively.

6 QATAR WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28 2012
Qatar builders riding a wave of growth
By 2016, the Qatari government will have spent upwards of EUR 176 billion on new infrastructure and construction projects
Qatar’s building industry has enjoyed
unprecedented growth in recent years,
the result of a buoyant economy driv-en
by the oil and gas sectors but with
pressing needs to develop major infra-structure,
housing and social projects.
As a result, the skyline and even the
geography of Doha have undergone a
sea-change, with projects such as the
new international airport, the Katara
Cultural Village and the artificial is-land
called The Pearl Qatar, a 4 mil-lion
square-metre exclusive property
development built on reclaimed land.
Today, the building boom continues
but with a different focus. On the one
hand, as Qatar prepares for the FIFA
Soccer World Cup in 2022, plans are
well underway for the construction
of hotels, stadiums and other related
infrastructure. According to a report
by Commercialbank Capital, spend-ing
on the World Cup preparations
could reach as much as $150 billion
(EUR XX billion) in the next five to
six years.
However, the World Cup won’t
be the only catalyst for growth. The
Qatari government, having invested
heavily in the hydrocarbons sector
over the past decade, is now moving
ahead with plans to promote non-oil
industries.
Investments in tourism, transporta-tion,
utilities, including solar energy,
will provide opportunities for build-ers,
as will projects in education and
health care. The Qatari government
plans to spend $225 billion on con-struction
and infrastructure projects in
the 2011-2016 period. Commercial-bank
Capital estimates that the total
construction market size through 2020
could be as large as $315 billion.
Two of the companies which are
set to profit from this activity are
Velosi and the Qatar Building Com-pany
The 2022 FIFA World Cup construction spend will likely benefit
Qatar Building Company (QBC), the market leader
Velosi has emerged as the preferred supplier of management ser-vices
(QBC), both featured on this
page. Neither one is a newcomer;
each has established itself as a major
player in the building sector and has
strengths in particular areas, Velosi as
a contractor to the oil and gas industry
worldwide; and QBC with its history
as a civil engineering company which
has branched out into building mate-rial
supply trading and other areas.
Both are well-positioned to take
advantage of the upswing in construc-tion
as Qatar’s government seeks to
create a sustainable economy with a
wide range of sources for producing
wealth, apart from just oil and gas.
QBC prepared for World
Cup construction boom
Qatar’s government plans to spend more
than $100 billion (£63 billion) over the
next decade on developing infrastructure
for the 2022 FIFA World Cup competi-tion.
One of the companies likely to
benefit from this boom is Qatar Building
Company (QBC).
As the company’s Managing Director
Ali M T Mustafawi puts it: “We realise
that there will be a lot of opportunities
across our divisions. That is why from
now until 2022 it is worth making high
capital investments.”
He says that for events such as the
World Cup, “It is not about how com-plicated
a project is, but more about how
quickly and efficiently you can build sta-diums
of the highest standards, and the
necessary community links to them.”
Qatar’s construction industry is fore-cast
to grow 12 percent a year through
2015, as a result of World Cup prepa-rations.
The building sector will also
be boosted by Qatar’s National Vision
2030, which has a budget estimated at
$800 billion to help diversify the econo-my
and reduce the country’s dependence
on the petroleum and gas industries.
QBC will likely be a beneficiary from
all that development spending. A re-cent
report by Commercialbank Capital
placed the company among Qatar’s top
10 builders in 2011, with $419 million in
new contracts.
QBC has already secured itself as the
most self-reliant company in the Qatari
infrastructure market. Established in
1971 as a civil engineering and build-ing
contractor, QBC has since built up a
broad client base that ranges from gov-ernment
agencies, international contrac-tors,
private developers and oil and gas
companies.
“We are involved in almost every
major public project in Qatar,” says Mr
Mustafawi, “whether directly as a con-tractor,
or indirectly by supplying the
heavy equipment and machines, or the
construction materials such as concrete,
asphalt and steel.”
QBC also has different types of col-laborations
on a per-project basis with
prestigious multinational companies.
When the company was founded by
Mr Mustafawi’s father, Mohammed
Tayeb Mustafawi, Qatar was enjoying
its first development boom, with the
construction of schools, hospitals, public
housing, and oil and gas projects.
Over the years, QBC has seen consid-erable
expansion of its activities, open-ing
its production capabilities in 1981;
now, production includes ready-mix and
precast concrete, aeronautical-quality
asphalt, steel, and fill, sub-base and ag-gregate
materials. Its trading division
began in 2000, when it started selling the
world’s leading brands of heavy equip-ment.
Today, QBC continues to explore new
avenues and relationships with technol-ogy-
holders to develop its business and
uphold its command of the industry.
“What we look for are new areas of
business that produce solid, sustainable
ROIs,” Mr Mustafawi says. “We cre-ate
synergies with reputable companies
by showing them the platforms we pro-vide
in terms of value-added businesses,
production facilities and factories, fleet
of equipment, engineering and market
know-how, and the long-established cli-ent
relationships critical for certain pro-jects.”
Mr Mustafawi underscores that QBC
uses the latest technology to be more ef-ficient,
protect the environment and stay
at the industry’s forefront: “We lay em-phasis
on the latest technology and sup-port
high levels of capital investment.”
Raising the standards in
oil and gas services
Acquisition of other companies pro-viding
complementary services is one
way in which businesses can grow,
and can be particularly successful
when an international market leader
links up with a local firm.
That’s the thinking behind the
merger this year between global in-spection,
quality assurance, and cer-tification
company Velosi and Qa-tar
Center for Career Development
(QCCD), specialising in management
development and training programs.
Founded in 1982, Velosi is a lead-ing
provider of services to the oil and
gas industries worldwide, operat-ing
through regional headquarters in
the United States, the UK, Malaysia,
South Africa, and the United Arab
Emirates. In 2011 it became part of
the Applus Group, turning the Span-ish
multinational into one of the larg-est
companies in the field of safety
and quality.
Velosi has 63 offices in 36 countries
worldwide, and in the Middle East
employs around 1500 people in seven
countries. A market leader in Qatar’s
energy sector, its clients include lead-ing
national and multinational oil and
gas companies, such as Qatar Pe-troleum,
Qatargas, RasGas, Qapco,
BP, Shell, Exxon Mobil, Petronas,
ONGC, and Chevron.
Outside of the energy industry,
the company sees huge potential for
winning business in the construction
sector as major new infrastructure
projects get under way in the run
up to Qatar hosting the FIFA World
Cup in 2022 as Velosi is diversify-ing
to infrastructure sector with the
help of Applus.
QCCD was established in 2007
to offer government and private
sector clients a complete range of
management soft-skills training
programs, cost-effective human re-sources
consultancy, and executive
search services.
Following Velosi’s acquisition of
around 75 percent of QCCD’s shares,
a new entity, Velosi-QCCD, was
launched in April. Registered in the
Jersey in the Channel Islands, Velosi-
QCCD will operate as an offshore arm
of Velosi, Qatar.
“This new venture is set to provide
a fresh and innovative concept of hu-man
resources, management, execu-tive,
and leadership training under one
roof,” says Sudhir Pandra, Velosi’s
Regional Manager, Middle East said
at the time the merger was announced.
“Our combination unites two mar-ket
leaders – Velosi and QCCD – in
asset integrity, health, safety and en-vironment,
quality assurance, qual-ity
control, engineering services, and
now all forms of specialist HR con-sultancy
and soft-skills management
training, and executive development.”
Pandra says that when they were
separate companies Velosi and QCCD
shared a common objective to ensure
absolute customer satisfaction, provid-ing
a professional and ethical service.
“We remain dedicated to this objec-tive
now that we are operating as one.
Together, Velosi-QCCD is privileged
to serve more than 200 client organi-zations
in more than 45 countries. The
depth of our resources and the breadth
of our reach are now stronger than
ever,” he said.
One of the objectives is to estab-lish
an academy to provide training to
meet specific human resources needs
in support of Qatar’s National Vision
2030.
Dr. Shaukat Chandna, Velosi-QC-CD’s
Managing Director, said, “There
is a great need for proper HR consul-tancy
standards to be established in
Qatar to realize the goal set under the
Qatar National Vision 2030.”
He says the merger of the two
market leaders has created an entity
with “extraordinary capability” that
will provide its clients with access to
“world-class HR solutions.”
“We are now uniquely positioned
to provide a diversified range of client
organizations with the most compre-hensive
set of solutions available to
extend mission critical services and
assure they are managed, secured,
compliant, and developed in line with
international best practices of man-agement
capabilities and values,” Dr.
Chandna said.
in Qatar’s energy sector
Sudhir Pandra, Middle East
Regional Manager of Velosi

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28 2012 QATAR 7
The Qatar Investment Authority owns London’s Shard, the EU’s tallest skyscraper
Building a global
portfolio
Qatar Investment Authority looks for quality
investments around the world
Established just seven years ago,
Qatar Investment Authority (QIA)
is on target to become one of the
world’s four largest sovereign
wealth funds by 2015, along with
those of China, Singapore and Abu
Dhabi. With an estimated $85 bil-lion
in total assets, QIA has a ma-jor
role to play in diversifying the
country’s revenue sources.
As Qatar’s LNG exports ap-proach
their peak capacity, QIA,
already the world’s 12th largest
sovereign wealth fund, is set to
benefit from greater purchasing
power. Indeed, the fund and its
various subsidiaries (Qatar Hold-ing
and Qatari Diar) have had more
than $30 billion at their disposal to
invest in 2012.
This follows a considerable
spending spree during 2010-2011.
From retail and real estate to energy
and banking, the Doha-based fund
continues to build its international
portfolio at a remarkable pace.
In May of 2010, QIA purchased
the UK’s landmark Harrods
Group from Mohammed Al-Fayed
for $2.2 billion. Plans are in the
works to build a Harrods hotel in
Kuala Lumpur (and later in New
York City and Paris) next year.
This acquisition was followed in
September by a $5 billion frame-work
deal between QIA and the
Greek government paving the
way for future investment in sev-eral
sectors, including energy and
banking. Later that same year,
QIA purchased a 5 percent stake
in Banco Santander’s Brazilian
arm, Banco Santander Brasil, for
$2.7 billion.
In 2011, Qatar spent $466 mil-lion
on the Shell oil company’s
building, Shell Centre in London,
a precursor to its purchase of a
significant stake in Royal Dutch
Shell. Along similar lines, QIA has
recently picked up a 3 percent stake
in France’s Total and is in talks to
buy a stake in Italy’s Eni. The fund
has shares in Energias de Portugal
and Iberdrola of Spain, as well.
In sports, the year 2011 also had
significance for Qatar. One of Eu-rope’s
top football teams, FC Bar-celona,
began displaying the logo
of Qatar Foundation – headed by
the Emir’s wife Sheika Mozah; and
QIA bought a 70 percent stake in
French football club Paris St Ger-main.
This year, the fund swept up
the remaining 30 percent.
QIA’s strong incursion into
France continued when it snatched
up a 26,000 square-meter retail
complex on Paris’ emblematic
Avenue des Champs Elysées, for
EUR500 million. One of the most
celebrated promenades in the
world, Champs Elysées is the ad-dress
of luxury brand Louis Vuit-ton,
another name recently added
to QIA’s portfolio of investments;
in March this year, the fund ac-quired
just over a 1 percent stake
in Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy
group.
In the UK, QIA’s name is linked
to various important real estate
projects, such as the redevelop-ment
of the 95-storey Shard Sky-scraper,
London’s Olympic Park
and One Hyde Park residences.
Qatar’s real estate, banking and in-frastructure
investments in Britain
top $16 billion.
Headed by the Qatari Prime
Minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jas-sim
bin Jabr al-Thani, QIA oper-ates
through two major invest-ment
vehicles. Qatar Holding,
incorporated in 2006, is the main
vehicle for strategic and direct in-vestments,
while Qatari Diar Real
Estate Company is the fund’s prop-erty
investment arm.
Established in 2005 and with
an estimated $35 billion in assets,
Qatari Diar has investments in the
UK, France, Thailand, Morocco,
Egypt, Oman and Syria, among
others. Currently the company has
more than 49 projects either un-der
development or in planning at
home and abroad.
Most of QIA’s high-profile in-vestments,
however, have been
made through Qatar Holding, in-cluding
commitments in construc-tion
company Hochtief and auto-makers
Volkswagen and Porsche.
Focusing on long-term gains and
taking advantage of growth oppor-tunities,
Qatar Holding generally
makes long-term strategic invest-ments,
mixed with the occasional
opportunistic position from time to
time.
Spread across different asset
classes, including listed securities,
alternative assets and private eq-uity,
investments have tended to be
more focussed in Europe and Asia,
with a few in the US, and include
France’s Lagardere Group, Lon-don’s
Canary Wharf, Singapore’s
Raffles Medical Group, and the
UK’s second biggest grocer, Sains-bury’s.
With its eye on the future, QIA
has also invested heavily in the
clean technology sector, having
created in 2008 a €287 million
fund for low carbon investment,
in collaboration with the UK’s
Carbon Trust – an independent,
non-profit fund set up by the UK
government that provides special-ist
support to help businesses and
the public sector boost returns by
cutting carbon emissions, saving
energy and commercialising low
carbon technologies.
In March 2010, Qatar Holding
signed a letter of intent with Qa-tar
Science and Technology Park,
Porsche and Volkswagen to launch
a series of initiatives covering ar-eas
such as education, research
and commercial applications of a
broad range of technologies, in-cluding
both engineering and fuel
technology.
Qatar Holding has also shown
a particular affinity for financial
institutions. The company holds
shares in Barclays, Credit Suisse
and the London Stock Exchange,
in addition to shares in the In-dustrial
and Commercial Bank of
China and the Agricultural Bank of
China.
At the end of the day, the fund’s
main mission is to use the excess
revenues from Qatar’s oil and gas
industry to diversify the national
economy, help moderate the effects
of fluctuating oil and gas prices,
and ensure continued growth after
hydrocarbons resources are ex-hausted.
Consequently, Qatar Holding
also invests in Qatar, and cur-rently
owns shares in Qatar Tel-ecom,
Qatar National Bank, the
Qatar Exchange and various local
banks. Through Qatari Diar, QIA
has invested in major infrastruc-ture
projects such as Lusail City,
the bridge between Qatar and Bah-rain,
and in a joint venture with
Deutsche Bahn, the development
of the national railway network.
Despite Qatar’s fast modernisation, traditions remain alive and well, and continue to entice tourists
Qatar set to become
regional tourism centre
Forecast to be the fastest growing tourist destination in the Middle
East, Qatar is investing heavily in new tourism infrastructure
Most people visiting Qatar do so
for business reasons. However,
this is changing as the tiny Gulf
state pursues its ambition to be-come
a major player on the region-al
and international tourism scene
by turning itself into a centre for
meetings, sports, culture, and lei-sure.
Just how confident the Qatari
authorities are about attracting
huge numbers of future visitors
can be judged by the size of Do-ha’s
new international airport, due
to open next year. Initially it will
cater to 24 million passengers, but
further expansion will increase the
number to 50 million after 2015.
The airport has been designed spe-cifically
for the Airbus A380 twin-deck
super jumbo, the biggest pas-senger
aircraft ever built.
The World Travel and Tourism
Council (WTTC) predicts that
tourism in Qatar will grow by
around 13 percent this year and
double over the next 10 years – the
fastest growth rate in the indus-try
in the Middle East. The Qatar
Tourism Authority (QTA) is tar-geting
a 20 percent increase in the
industry over the next five years.
And that’s ahead of Qatar’s
hosting of the 2022 FIFA World
Cup, an event that will showcase
the country to a TV audience of
billions across the globe.
The Qatari government is eager
to diversify the economy away
from overdependence on hydro-carbons
and believes that tourism
has enormous potential in this re-gard.
This is supported by the in-dustry’s
rising contribution to the
economy, both directly and indi-rectly
– estimated by the WTTC at
$5.5 billion last year, and expected
to reach $11.25 billion in 2022.
Qatar has invested significantly
in the development of its tourism
and transport infrastructure, build-ing
new hotels, resorts, and cultur-al
centers, and the pace of invest-ment
will accelerate in the run up
to the World Cup. The government
plans to spend some $20 billion
towards the development of tour-ism
projects, and $65 billion on
infrastructure to facilitate tourist
movement during the event, in-cluding
a Metro system for Doha.
Meanwhile, Qatar has been
busy broadening its tourist ap-peal.
It has already established a
reputation for successfully staging
large-scale events – particularly
international sporting tourna-ments,
attracting large numbers of
tennis, golf and athletics fans. Last
year, it staged the AFC Asian Cup,
and for the mega-championship of
2022 it is building nine spectacu-lar
new stadiums.
Cultural attractions in Qa-tar
range from museums focus-ing
on Arab and Islamic herit-age
and art, to the Waqif Art
Centre, Katara Cultural Village,
and the iconic Qatar National
Convention Centre. Shoppers can
head for the traditional souks or
buy leading international brands
in sleek modern malls.
Business tourism accounted for
72 per cent of the total number of
tourists who arrived in 2011, and
Qatar is firmly on the map as a
destination for meetings, incen-tives,
conventions, and exhibi-tions
(MICE) tourism. Since open-ing
in December last year, Qatar
National Convention Centre alone
has attracted more than 136,000
visitors hosted to over 200 events,
including major international con-ferences.
Overall visitor numbers are still
relatively modest compared with
some other Gulf nations, but the
upward trend is unmistakable and
Qatar is determined to grab a ma-jor
share of the lucrative regional
tourism market.
Last year was the most success-ful
yet. According to the QTA,
2011 saw an increase of around 50
percent in visitors from the GCC
region, compared to 2010, with
some 845,600 arrivals. Interna-tional
tourism figures were also
impressive, with a 12 per cent in-crease.
Asian tourists accounted
for 58 per cent of the total, while
tourism from European countries
was up by 15 percent.
Doha’s hotels enjoyed a record
year in 2011, with revenue from
four and five star hotels exceeding
$1.3 billion.
The number of hotels in Doha
has doubled since 2010 to around
12,000. Eight new hotels opened
last year and more are under con-struction.
Famous international
brands like St. Regis and Hilton
have recently joined brands like
W, Four Seasons, Marriott, and
Sheraton in the capital.
Hotel occupancy rates across
the country peaked at 85 per cent
during the recent Eid Al Adha
holiday, held at the end of the
Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrim-age
to Mecca. With more than
10,300 visitors arriving from all
GCC countries for the celebra-tions,
Qatar appears to be on track
to become one of the main tourist
spots for GCC citizens.
In 2011, European
tourist arrivals
were up by 15
percent, and GCC
visitors grew by 50
percent
Tourism has
great potential
to diversify
Qatar’s economy
away from
hydrocarbons.
Already, the
sector contributes
directly and
indirectly, some
$5.5 billion

8 QATAR WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28 2012
Culture as important pillar for growth
Qatar strives to develop the nation’s potential whilst maintaining culture at the nation’s core, thereby blending modernity with traditions
Until now, Qatar’s rapid economic
progress has largely been centred
around the exploitation of vast
amounts of oil and gas reserves that
the Arab state boasts. With speedy
growth comes the challenge of pre-serving
cultural traditions and this
is a problem that confronts many
societies in a swiftly globalising and
increasingly connected world.
Qatar’s escalation has created
strains between the old and the new
in almost every aspect of daily life.
In the modern, highly-competitive
world, the capitalistic approach
to business often clashes with tra-ditional
relationships and values.
Moreover, the greater emancipation
and variety that complement eco-nomic
and social progress can pose
challenges to deep-rooted social val-ues
cherished by a society.
Qatar is trying to mould mod-ernisation
around local culture and
prove that modern life and tradition-al
values can indeed be compatible,
and it is doing this through the Qatar
National Vision 2030 (QNV 2030)
programme.
The QNV2030 outlines four guid-ing
principles, on the basis of which
the state aims to create a sustainable
economy and enhance the standard
of living of its people. Therefore up
until the year 2030, expansion in
both the public and private sectors
will be centred on human, social,
economic and environmental devel-opment.
The main objectives of the
QNV2030 are to create a society
that is educated, capable of playing
a key role in forging global partner-ships,
and one that maintains a bal-ance
between economic and social
development.
In addition to this, Qatar’s govern-ment
feels that community develop-ment
plays a vital part in obtaining
the targets it sets. Any advancement
in business or science and technol-ogy
that fails to engage with and
nurture culture and art will not be
fully beneficial to the state – a strat-egy
that highlights the importance of
culture in Qatar’s present and future.
The Katara Cultural Village will
play a significant role in this cultural
development. It will exhibit art from
Qatar and all around the world, as
part of the state’s drive to nurture
natural talent by providing Qataris
with the opportunity to be inspired
by art, both old and contemporary.
In an ever-changing and digital-ised
global world, Katara is eager to
offer a platform where Qataris can
keep hold of their roots and herit-age,
while still embracing diversity
and rejoicing in similarities with the
cultures of the world.
Recently Katara and Blooms-bury
Qatar Foundation Publishing
(BQFP) announced a partnership to
initiate and support cultural activi-ties
through the development, pro-duction
and circulation of cultural
publications.
According to Hanouf Al-Buain-ain,
Director of BQFP, Qatar wants
to bring culture out to the broader
consciousness, and at the same time
develop a vibrant literacy publishing
scene within the state. He foresees
that this joint venture will result in
Qatar producing a number of books
in English and Arabic in the imme-diate
future. He also thinks that the
Qatar has placed culture and heritage at the core of its develop-ment
strategy for the future, thus harmoniously blending tradition
and modernity
A celebration of culture
One of the first sights to be encoun-tered
by travellers arriving in Doha in
the near future will be the new National
Museum of Qatar.
Currently being built at the south end
of the Corniche, the striking complex
of disk-shaped pavilions will celebrate
the culture, heritage and future of Qatar
and its people.
The innovative design is the work of
renowned French architect Jean Nouvel,
winner of the prestigious Pritzker Archi-tecture
Prize. Hyundai Engineering
Construction of South Korea was award-ed
the $434 million contract by Qatar
partnership will initiate a common
cultural awareness that will allow
Qataris to appreciate cultures from
across the world and will ultimately
reinforce the development of a crea-tive
and innovative Qatar, as well.
A prominent event on the cul-tural
itinerary is the Doha Tribeca
Film Festival, the annual cultural
showpiece of the Doha Film Insti-tute.
Held this year from 17th-24th
November, the festival showcased
homegrown talent with a selection
of 19 films by local filmmakers,
including nationals and expatriates
based in the country.
This year marked the largest ex-hibition
of Made in Qatar films,
underlining the significant strides
achieved by Qatar’s emerging film
industry, with 15 premieres being
shown as part of the overall festi-val
line-up. Another 87 films were
screened from across the globe. The
films will compete for the Made
in Qatar development award of
$10,000, awarded by an independ-ent
jury.
The Qatari cultural revolution
now also has a website to act a refer-ence
point. The Minister of Culture,
Arts and Heritage HE Dr Hamad
bin Abdulaziz al-Kuwari recently
launched the website for the ‘Qatar
cultural gate.’ The project forms part
of the Ministry’s plan to improve its
services to keep pace with the devel-opments
in the field of information
technology.
The purpose-built cultural village of
Katara has already hosted various high-profile
events and spurred many Qatari
organisations to set up there
“The idea is to
show that, in
culture, the country
has a strategy of
coexistence of the
ancient and the new.”
Marcio Barbosa,
Managing Director of Katara
Museums Authority last year,
and the opening is scheduled
for December 2014.
While the look of the new
museum is uncompromis-ingly
modern, its scattering
of intersecting disk-like components
are designed to echo the petals of the de-sert
sand rose. Nouvel, whose declared
intention is to reflect the country’s van-ishing
Bedouin culture, describes it as
“a modern-day caravanserai.”
Built from locally sourced concrete
and steel, the museum will comprise
430,000 sq ft of indoor space, includ-ing
86,000 sq ft of permanent gallery
space, 21,500 sq ft of temporary gallery
space, a 220-seat auditorium, a 70-seat
food forum and TV studio, two cafes,
a restaurant, and a museum shop. Sur-rounding
it will be a 1.2 million sq ft
landscaped park in the style of a Qatari
desert landscape.
The restored Fariq Al Salatah Palace,
which has served as Qatar’s national
museum since 1975, is integrated into
the design. Originally built in the early
20th century by Sheikh Abdullah bin
Jassim Al Thani, and for 25 years
the seat of government, the pal-ace
is being preserved
as the heart of the new
museum.
“At this unpar-alleled
new institution, Qataris will be
able to discover more about their im-mediate
ancestors and their roots in
the region, learn about the formation of
Qatar’s early cities, and above all be ex-posed
to the historical, material culture
and intangible heritage represented in
the collections,” says Peggy Loar, the
National Museum’s director.
However, it is not just Qatari citi-zens
that the new museum is intended
to attract.
Qatar, which already boasts a Muse-um
of Islamic Art, an Orientalist Muse-um,
and a Museum of Modern Islamic
Art, is targeting 20 per cent growth in
tourism over the next five years, and
culture will play an important part in
pulling in visitors, particularly from
other GCC states, such as Saudi Arabia,
Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates.
Qatar’s new national museum aims to attract Qataris and tourists
Katara:
living culture
Realised out of a vision to estab-lish
Qatar as a cultural beacon of
the Middle East, the cultural vil-lage
at Katara is a world-class
exhibition space that has been
designed to spur the participation
of Qataris in cultural activities and
encourage greater exploration of
the emirate’s rich heritage.
A true nation-building endeav-our,
the $82-million project is
held as a key contributor to the
social and human development
of the country.
Built on reclaimed coastal land
between Doha’s West Bay and
The Pearl-Qatar, just to the north
of the capital’s city centre, Katara
includes heritage centres, librar-ies,
art galleries and other aca-demic
facilities, in addition to re-tail
outlets, coffee shops, museum
facilities and market areas.
Katara had a soft opening in
October 2010 during the Doha
Tribeca Film Festival (DTFF).
According to Marcio Barbo-sa,
managing director of Katara
and former joint director at UN-ESCO,
the cultural village has
the challenge of, on one hand,
preserving the traditions and his-toric
values of the country and,
on the other, “offering cultural
opportunities” — modern ones
through different manifestations,
like music, art, theatre and cin-ema,
among others. “The idea
is to show that, in culture, the
country has a strategy of coexist-ence
of the ancient and the new,”
he says.
Many Qatari organizations
already have their offices at Ka-tara,
including the Qatari Society
for Engineers, Qatar Fine Arts
Society, Visual Art Centre, Qa-tar
Photographic Society, Child-hood
Cultural Centre, Doha Film
Institute, and the Qatar Music
Academy.
The 247-acre cultural village
features a massive open amphi-theatre,
opera house, cinema that
can double as a drama theatre, a
multipurpose hall, beach, handi-crafts
souq, book market, inter-national
restaurants and cafes,
and ample space for visitors to
stroll around the different areas
of the project.
The themed restaurant area has
eateries that are exclusive to the
Middle East and Katara’s mina-ret
centre is based around three
towers, one of which – a hotel –
will be Qatar’s tallest.
The Emir of Qatar accepting the honour to host World Cup 2022

QATAR FTD low resolution Dec. 4

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QATAR FTD low resolution Dec. 4