Qatar's Officials Highlight US Trade Ties, Economic Vision At Qatar Economic Forum 2025

Doha, Qatar: The fifth edition of the Qatar Economic Forum (QEF), powered by Bloomberg, commenced here on Tuesday at Katara Towers under the theme "The Road to 2030: Transforming the Global Economy."

The opening day featured high-level discussions with Qatari and international officials, with a significant focus on trade relations with the United States, energy cooperation, financial resilience, and digital transformation.

The first day of the forum began with a prominent appearance by Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, who addressed questions on key geopolitical and economic matters, including a widely discussed military transaction with the US.

“What I call it is an exchange between two countries...the plane story is a Ministry of Defense to Department of Defense transaction,” His Excellency stated, referring to the recent transfer of a Boeing aircraft to the US, associated with President Donald Trump's visit to Doha.

Touching on the ongoing conflict in Gaza, HE Al-Thani emphasized Qatar's persistent efforts in mediation.

“We have been there from the beginning, trying to mediate and trying to get to a deal where it alleviates the suffering...The only way forward is through negotiations,” His Excellency said.

From the energy sector, Minister of State for Energy Affairs, the President and CEO of QatarEnergy, HE Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, highlighted the depth of Qatar-US cooperation through long-standing commercial partnerships.

“For the last 70 years, we have had American companies here. So we have had several projects, Northfield East, Northfield South. These are all commercial projects that have an American presence. We have two projects in the US, the largest single investment in LNG export facility,” he said.

His Excellency continued noting Qatar's industrial investments in the US energy landscape.

"The largest ethane cracker in the world in the US, about 30 billion projects. So these are all commercially viable projects that we are doing.”

Meanwhile Governor of Qatar Central Bank (QCB) and Chairman of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA), HE Sheikh Bandar bin Mohammed bin Saoud Al-Thani, addressed the implications of US trade policies and tariffs on the Qatari economy.

“In Qatar, we have direct and indirect impacts. The direct is very minimal, there is no major issue with it, despite that we have been imposed with 10% of minimum tariffs,” he noted.


“My concern is about the indirect impact, which is the decline of energy prices,” he added, highlighting broader economic vulnerabilities.

Answering the host's question on the Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) announcement on their plans to invest $500bn in the US over the next decade.

QIA CEO, Mohammed Saif Saeed Al-Sowaidi said,“US is 60% of the available trading markets in the world...we also believe in the robustness of the US systems, the growth perspective.”

He also underscored the alignment of QIA's investments with global economic trends.

In the aviation sector, Qatar Airways Group Chief Executive Officer, Eng. Badr Mohammed Al-Meer discussed the airline's major order of up to 210 Boeing aircraft from the U.S.

“The reason for the order, it will cover the strategy of Qatar Airways till 2045. We'll start receiving the aircraft from 2029,” Al-Meer said,
“To expand our network as well as retire some of our older aircraft that we have in our fleet,” he added.

Al-Meer also emphasized the strength of current demand across the aviation industry.

“For the last few years, and from what we see in the industry, the demand is still there. We have demand that we cannot, today we cannot cater for,” he stated.


“Our load factors are the highest in the industry and the highest in the history of Qatar Airways. We're talking about 85.6 percent. In certain sectors, we're talking about 95 to 96 percent,” he said.

One of the highlights of the day was a virtual interview with Elon Musk, who shared insights into global business trends, including developments related to Tesla, Artificial Intelligence, and cryptocurrencies such as Dogecoin.

Held annually, the Forum serves as a premier platform for dialogue between global and regional leaders.

This year's edition, running until May 22, hosts participants from more than 100 countries and places a spotlight on new economic drivers such as Artificial Intelligence, digitalization, energy security, food security, and global supply chain resilience.

As the Forum progresses, it continues to underscore Qatar's role as a facilitator of global dialogue and economic transformation, reinforcing its ambitions under Qatar National Vision 2030 to position itself as a diversified, knowledge-based economy.

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