Qatar-Norway Relations: Burgeoning Partnerships, Shared Aspirations

(MENAFN- The Peninsula) QNA

The State of Qatar and the Kingdom of Norway share a long history of solid relationship that reflects a remarkable progress of bilateral cooperation. This includes multi-faceted aspects of political, economic and trade cooperation, in addition to sharing knowledge and expertise in a multitude of fields.

The visit of the Amir H H sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to Norway is the first-of-its-kind and underscores the State of Qatars commitment to reinforcing its global partnerships and expanding the scope of cooperation with friendly nations. Also, the visit is a crucial step toward broadening Qatars political and economic relationships.

The Kingdom of Norway is undoubtedly an attractive model whose economy relies on oil and gas and has evolved over the span of years into economies with diverse incomes and robust investments in industrial and tourism sectors, et al, undergirded by Norway's Government Pension Fund Global (GPFG), the first global fund that was established in 1990 with financial assets worth approximately $1.6 trillion, as per World Bank global classifications.

Norway is renowned for playing an international role by sponsoring mediations, resolving a variety of international crises and hosting political consultations, and in fact, it is same role played by the State of Qatar. Additionally, the capital Oslo always forges agreements among countries that have territorial disputes or conflicts and does not hesitate in advocating for humanitarian issues and standing with nations and their just causes. The latest stance was Norways official recognition of the State of Palestine, alongside Ireland and Spain on May 28, 2024, a decision that was welcomed by the State of Qatar as a critical step forward to support the two-state solution and achieve peace and stability in the region.

Qatar shares a growing relationship with Norway, as demonstrated on Jan.17, 2024, when H M King Harald V of the Kingdom of Norway received the credentials of H E Nadia bint Ahmad Al Sheebi as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Qatar (non-resident) to the Kingdom of Norway. H E the Ambassador conveyed the Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani's greetings to H M the King of the Kingdom of Norway.

In August 2024, Chief of Staff of the Qatari Armed Forces H E Lieutenant General (Pilot), Salem bin Hamad bin Aqeel Al Nabet, visited the Kingdom of Norway and held separate meetings in Oslo with State secretary of Defense of the Kingdom of Norway H E Anne Marie Aanerud and Norway Chief of Defense General H E Eirik Kristoffersen to discuss military cooperation between the two sides.

In addition, the Chief of Staff of the Qatari Armed Forces visited the Kongsberg Defense & Aerospace facility and met with CEO of the facility, Geir Haoy.

Regarding the economic aspect, Qatar Chamber (QC) hosted the Qatar-Norway Business Meeting on Jun.12, 2022. The meeting was co-chaired by QCs First-Vice Chairman Mohamed bin Twar Al Kuwari, and Manager of Innovation Norway in the Middle East and Head of Norway delegation, Epsen Teksum. Al Kuwari underlined that the State of Qatar and Norway share rock-solid cooperation ties and investments in the two countries, which reached approximately QR195 million during 2021, emphasizing the importance of collaborative work of private sectors in the two countries to stimulate trade exchanges.

For his part, Epsen Teksum called on Qatari businessmen to explore investment opportunities available in Norway and invest in multiple sectors, such as energy, maritime industries, food security and others. He highlighted that the Qatari-Norway trade ties have been ongoing for more than 60 years and there are shared investments between the two countries in gas, oil and defense sectors, as well as other fields.

The first round of political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs in the two countries was held in November 2019, with the two nations signing a memorandum of understanding to establish political consultations between the two foreign ministries. The consultations were co-chaired by Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs H E Dr. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi, and Norway's State Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Audun Halvorsen.

Minister of Trade and Industry in the Kingdom of Norway H E Torbjorn Roe Isaksen, visited Doha on Nov.13, 2019, with accompanying delegates from professional Norwegian energy firms to attend the golden jubilee celebration of Qatar Fertiliser Company (QAFCO) and the 50th anniversary of its cooperation with Norwegian Yara International company. Torbjorn Roe Isaksen said the investments of the Norwegian firms in the State of Qatar reached up to $10 billion, hoping that trade ties between the two sides would significantly evolve to elevate these investments.

He noted the cooperation prospects between the two sides in an array of sectors, such as maritime technology and defense industries, specially that the Norwegian firms were as successful as QAFCO and Qatar Aluminum Manufacturing Company, predicting a meteoric rise in the Qatari-Norway partnerships in the future, particularly in maritime industries and energy sectors.

The visit featured the celebration of four grand Norwegian companies, alongside QAFCO of the 50th anniversary of the burgeoning industrial relationship among them and Qatar. Approximately 250 Qatari and international dignitaries attended the event, particularly HRH Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Norway Haakon Magnus, HE Minister of State for Energy Affairs, President and CEO of QatarEnergy H E Eng. Saad bin Sherida Al Kaabi, Minister of Trade and Industry in the Kingdom of Norway, H E Torbjorn Roe Isaksen and QAFCO Chief Executive Officer Abdulrahman M. Al Suwaidi.

QAFCO represents the most important investments between the two countries with 25% from the Norwegian Yara International and 75% from Industries Qatar, with QAFCO running six integrated factories that produce Ammonia and Urea.

In addition, it plays a pivotal role in the global fertilizer market and is one of the largest exporters of Urea, with an annual production capacity of 3.8 million metric tons of Ammonia and 5.6 million metric tons of Urea.

President and Chief Executive Officer of Yara International company, Svein Tore Holsether, affirmed that half of the world population depends on food production fertilizers, with QAFCO significantly contributes to enhancing global food security and exporting its products to all parts of the world.

He underscored the companys commitment to working with QAFCO to ensure a sustainable production of mineral fertilizers, highlighting that his company works to develop digital agriculture tools for precision agriculture, thus lending impetus to food production by Qatar.

For her part, CEO of Hydro, Hilde Merete Aasheim, said in the past 50 years Hydro had succeeded in engaging in the activities of numerous world-class industrial projects in Qatar and is the first industrial partner for the State of Qatar.

She added that Hydro primarily focuses on making aluminum as part of the solution for the most overwhelming challenge in this age, chiefly reducing energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission when used in vehicle, transport, construction, packaging and other applications, since Aluminum can be repurposed without being recycled.

Within the framework of the same visit, HE Minister of Commerce and Industry (MOCI), Ali bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, held separate meetings in Doha, with HRH Crown Prince of the Kingdom of Norway Haakon Magnus, and Norways Minister of Trade and Industry, HE Torbjorn Roe Isaksen. On the sidelines of the visit, MOCI pointed out that the size of trade exchange between the State of Qatar and the Kingdom of Norway reached roughly QR160.1 million during 2018, equivalent to $43.86 million.

The two countries so far signed an agreement on avoiding double taxation and preventing fiscal evasion with respect to income taxes. And the State of Qatar ratified this agreement with the government of the Kingdom of Norway in Oslo on January 10, 2010.

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