DOHA A NUMBER of British ministers including ministers of culture, trade and investment, defence and sports are expected to visit Doha in a series of visits to take place in a couple of weeks, according to British Ambassador to Qatar HE Michael O’Neill CMG.
The series of high-profile visits is in line with the UK’s vision of boosting its relations with Qatar and strengthening the presence of some British institutions in the country.
Talking to the media on Sunday, the British envoy mentioned trade and investments as being under the main focus of the programme of the ministerial visits. Qatar is UK’s third largest export market in the Gulf and fifth in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. The value of bilateral trade in goods (exports and imports) of UK with Qatar between January and July 2012 is £2.77 billion. The forthcoming visit of UK’s Minister of State for Trade and Investment Lord Green to Doha is expected to further boost Qatar-UK collaboration.
The meetings of UK’s Culture Minister Ed Vaizey with the country’s main figures in the cultural field are expected to deepen the European country’s cultural links with Qatar. He said, “UK has so far established good relations with Qatar’s cultural hubs, the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA) and Katara.”
The envoy also mentioned the scheduled visit of UK Minister for the Middle East and North Africa Alistair Burt in Doha and the likely visit of UK’s sports minister soon.
“This is an exciting place where there are so much groundbreaking developments taking place. We think we can learn from Qatar in some of these and we also have some expertise and experience we can share with Qatar in the field of healthcare, education and culture,” said the British envoy.
He also underlined the deepening relations of UK and Qatar, particularly in the field of education. Recently, the University College of London opened a campus in Education City making it the first British university to have a branch in Qatar. The envoy said two British business schools are beginning to establish their presence here by teaching some of their programmes. About 1100 Qatari students are currently studying in different universities in UK.
According to the envoy, a group of British university officials will be visiting Doha to explore other opportunities of strengthening the presence of more British educational institutions in Qatar. “We want to support any British universities which would want to come to Qatar. We want to see stronger UK presence here at the university level,” he said.
Healthcare is another sector in which the UK is keen to partner Qatar, the envoy said. He referred to a number of Qataris coming to the UK for medical treatment each year. It is one of the factors leading to the rise in the number of applications for visa to UK along with a growing number of tourists coming from Qatar. This year, the British embassy marked a 29 percent increase in visa applications over the same corresponding period last year. The visa applications processed between January 1 and October 8 reached 27,242.
The envoy also underlined the strong political ties between the UK and Qatar, particularly the close coordination between the two countries on some of the regional issues such as the crisis in Libya last year and the ongoing crisis in Syria.
Post a Comment
Post a Comment