(MENAFN- The Peninsula) sanaullah ataullah |
The Peninsula
The country's leading retailer Lulu Group has launched Australia Week in cooperation with Austrade, the commercial division of the Australian embassy, offering wide range of products on discounted prices.
Ambassador of Australia to Qatar H E Jonathan Muir and wife jointly inaugurated the festival at Lulu Hypermarket, Giardino, The Pearl-Qatar yesterday. It will run until February 11 in all Lulu Hypermarket outlets in the region.
The inaugurating ceremony was attended by Remy Rohani from Qatar Chamber; Chief Executive of BLJ Worldwide Justin Kerr-Stevens; Diana Monis from Austrade, Hilary Bainbride, Director of Lulu Group International Dr. Mohamed Althaf, officials from the Australian embassy, and a number of other dignitaries from various sectors.
The Ambassador during his address said that it was an absolute pleasure to be there to launch the highly anticipated Lulu Hypermarket's 'Australia Week' in Qatar.
He lauded the sustained efforts of Lulu Hypermarket chain to promote the Australian food and non-food products in the Qatari market and beyond, through its network.
He urged all members of the community in Qatar to come down to their local Lulu outlets and enjoy some of these outstanding Australian products at Lulu Hypermarket's Australia Week 2023.
“Australian food and beverage products have gained an impeccable reputation around the world for superior quality, great value, and innovative production methods,” said the Ambassador.
He said that Australian produce is renowned for its diversity, freshness, and excellence, with beef, lamb, seafood, truffles, olives, and cheeses consistently ranking among the world's best.
“Our products are also tailored to meet the specific needs of international markets, with many Australian companies specialising in organic and halal products - as well as those with reduced sugar; salt and fat, preservative-free, gluten-free, nut-free and dairy-free,” said the Ambassador.
He said that customers can find these products in the world's most prestigious restaurants, in the cabins of Qatar Airways, on the shelves of the finest retailers and all Lulu outlets in Qatar.
“These unique food offerings have also become a major draw for visitors to Australia, and research shows that travellers rate Australia as one of the top two countries in the world for food experiences,” said the Ambassador.
Director of Lulu Group International Dr. Mohamed Althaf said that Australia Week festival is being held to promote Australian products in Qatar.
Australian Ambassador to Qatar H E Jonathan Muir, his wife and Director of Lulu Group International Dr. Mohamed Althaf touring the festival.
He said that Australian products have been increasing significantly at Lulu outlets during last four years due to growing local demand.
“We had started importing some perishable and other types of products. Now we have almost all ranges of Australian products, which have become integral part of Lulu's offerings,” said Dr. Althaf.
He said that Lulu Group is working with Australian Trade Agency by increasing its presence in Melbourne city of Australia.
“We will be able to start shipping a wide range of products from Australia to Qatar very soon. Lulu will buy products in Australia to import to Qatar. It will go through all necessary processes of import like halal certification, traceability and quality testing enabling to bring the best products from Australia,” said
Dr. Althaf.
“We believe that this initiative will play a proactive role in ensuring food security in Qatar. Historically GCC market depended very heavily on Australia for perishable, protein rich and other products.”
He said that Australia has a long history of producing high quality halal products especially for Middle East and GCC countries.
“Lulu is going to benefit from this initiative and looking forward to meet with government officials to start its import operations officially from Australia,” said Dr. Althaf.
The festival is showcasing the major product lines that are directly being imported from Australia regularly since long time.
The important categories that are imported include fresh meat, organic food, muesli bars, plant-based milk, sauce, cake mix, honey, grocery, fresh fruits and vegetables, etc. Recent reports state that there has been considerable increase in the export of livestock, fresh food, processed food products and vegetables from Australia to Qatar.
Although Australian products have presence in Lulu stores for a long time, however, the present campaign endeavours to promote a wide range of Australian products and to augment sales by increasing the extent of imports. Halal-certified food is also of growing importance to trade between Qatar
and Australia.
Live musical performance of children from King's College Doha was appealing and added vibrancy to the ceremony.
Chef Ali's culinary live cooking sessions were also organised during the festival, and special counters were set for sampling.