(MENAFN- The Peninsula) QNA
Doha: President of the US-Qatar Business Council (USQBC) Scott Taylor praised the vision of the wise leadership of the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani that is driving the country towards more progress and prosperity, cementing its status in the global economy and on the international stage.
Speaking to QNA during his visit to Qatar, Taylor said:“I met H H the Amir a few years, I think it was 2018, and I was immediately impressed. I was immediately impressed by his energy, by his optimism for this country, for his clear vision to make Qatar thrive on the world stage,” adding that all senior officials he spoke to“had the same contagious optimism for the future of this country, which was fantastic.” He noted that the participation of the Amir in the 77th session of the UN General Assembly comes at a time when Qatar is at the height of its success in the international arena and that the country will look to spread a message of peace and hope to the world.
“I think that you're going to have a lot of other nations that are looking up to Qatar for their contribution to world peace, for their contribution to conflict resolution, for their contribution to energy security,” he added.
Taylor noted that this year's General Assembly will be held at a time“with disruption and dislocation in the world when you talk about the war in Ukraine, and of course, Qatar has the answer to the energy crisis in many ways with LNG”.
On Qatar-US ties, he stressed that it is now better than it's ever been since establishing diplomatic relations 50 years ago.
“It's very easy to see energy is one of the pillars (of bilateral ties). It's easy to see defense is one of the pillars because when you look at companies like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips and the LNG plant and QatarEnergy,” he said.
On the role of the US-Qatar Business Council, he said it was established in 1996 to enhance bilateral relations in the economic and trade fields. He added that the council has a vision for enhancing ties, especially given the economic growth in Qatar and the country's future vision.
“And so as a Council, our vision is to align with those goals, whether, again, whether it's in food security, whether it's in defense, whether it's in tech, whether it's in genomics, whatever that is. Our Council is going to find out from the ministries, find out from the agencies here what their vision are, what sectors that they want to have more economic development in, and we will be aligned with them,” he added.
Discussing the agreement signed recently between Microsoft and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT) worth $18bn over five years to establish cloud data centres, he stressed that the partnership reflects the growing trust between US companies and their Qatari counterparts.
He said that the investment would be a turning point as it will allow many companies to benefit from the existence of these data centres and invest in Qatar. He added that the investment was also a reflection of Microsoft's trust in the Qatari economy, adding that it will open the door for starting new technology companies.
He also highlighted that there were stronger relations in other areas of trade such as in technology, food security and genetics, stressing his commitment, as President of the US-Qatar Business Council, to strengthen these bilateral trade relations.
On hosting the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022, he said that the event will reflect positively on Qatar and the region, highlighting that it was another opportunity for Qatar to prove itself once more on the international stage.
He said that it also reflects Qatar's confidence in its capabilities, now that it has implemented all the massive projects associated with the World Cup from stadiums, roads, hotels, and other infrastructure projects. He said that the secret to the success was the mutual trust between the leadership and the people, which will help enhance Qatar's status on the international stage.
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