Qatar Financial Center seeks to attract $ 25 billion in foreign direct investment inflows in 2022, its chief executive Yousuf Al-Jaida told CNBC on Wednesday.
It comes a week after Saudi Arabia re-established diplomatic ties with neighboring Qatar, ending more than three years of blockade against the small gas-rich nation.
Reconciliation means a stronger and more powerful Gulf Cooperation Council, Al-Jaida said.
“I think the impact will be positive on trade, which means countries will work closely with each other,” he added.
Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, sealed the land, sea and air borders with Qatar in 2017, after accusing Doha of links to terrorism. Qatar has denied these allegations.
The thawing of tensions (just weeks before the end of President Donald Trump’s term in the White House) is a major shift in the region’s politics.
Competition for the GCC financial center
Doha competes with global financial centers in the region, including Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and the capital of Saudi Arabia, Riyadh.
Dubai, one of the region’s transportation and tourism hubs, faces new competition from Riyadh.
Saudi Arabia is trying to attract multinational companies to the capital as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ambitious 2030 vision plan to diversify the kingdom’s economy.
Skyline of Doha, Qatar
Sven Hansche | EyeEm | Getty Images
Al-Jaida said Doha’s advantage over its rivals is the drive to develop Islamic finance and fintech technology, as well as financial services in general.
The financial center’s ambitious FDI target, along with the goal of creating 10,000 new jobs and more than 1,000 companies by 2022, will get a boost from the CCG’s arrest, he said.
“From QFC’s perspective, multinational corporations are virtually based throughout the GCC, and it would mean more liberal travel, more market access. It will mean more foreign direct investment for Doha. That’s why we’re very optimistic,” Va. dir Al-Jaida.
We are working to achieve a better future for the entire region, so everyone is optimistic.
Yousuf Al-Jaida
CEO, Qatar Financial Center
The six-nation GCC is a political, economic and social alliance that includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.
According to the World Bank, Qatar’s economy is expected to grow by 3% by 2021 and is the best among the GCC countries.
Qatar, one of the richest countries per capita in the world, has also focused on sports. The country is scheduled to host the 2022 World Cup and has submitted a request to the International Olympic Committee to join the “ongoing dialogue” on the possibility of holding the 2032 Games.
Golf arrest
Ties between Gulf neighbors are deep and the blockade left a gap that affected trade across the GCC.
According to the Brookings Institution, flights between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors totaled 70 per day before the consequences. The airline sector, heavily affected by the global pandemic, will benefit significantly from the cooling of tensions.
Prior to the blockade, trade flows between Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were in the billions and in the millions with Bahrain, the think tank said.
Al-Jaida told CNBC that more work needs to be done to build trust between Qatar and its Gulf and Egyptian neighbors, but “this has been left behind and we are working towards a better future for the entire region, so everyone is optimistic. “