DOHA: Qatar Development Bank (QDB) has announced plans to enhance the level of participation in international exhibitions and other export promotion related activities to almost double this year compared to last year.
The state-backed development agency, under its export promotion and development programme—Tasdeer—is aiming to boost exports of local products and services by providing and facilitating market access to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
'This year the scale of participation in international expos and other events is going to be 80 percent more compared to last year, as a lot of local companies have expanded their production capacities to beat the impact of the ongoing blockade, so, they need access to international markets to export their products, Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Khalifa, CEO of QDB told The Peninsula on the sidelines of an event recently.
Al Khalifa added: 'In this regard, QDB is working hand-in-hand with the Ministry of Energy and Industry and other authorities concerned to open up new avenues for business and sales in international markets to support the growth and expansion of local companies.
Under QDB's Tasdeer programme, over 500 companies participated in more than 100 international exhibitions, where they bagged contracts worth more than QR500m.
'For us it's a big target. We want to continue contributing to the non-oil and gas production, and further expanding the share of the non-hydrocarbons sector to the country GDP, said Al Khalifa.
QDB, through Tasdeer, is exploring export opportunities for local products in all regional and international markets, but primarily it is targeting African and Middle Eastern countries, including Oman, Kuwait and Iraq among others.
QDB through Tasdeer enabled Qatar to become the first country amongst the GCC states to acquire full membership of the Enterprise Europe Network (EEN), to be the 67th country in the Network.