Turkey-Qatar business forum kicks off in Doha

Ahmed Yusuf

DOHA, Qatar (AA) - The Qatari-Turkish Business Forum kicked off Tuesday in capital Doha in cooperation with the Turkish Exporters Assembly (TIM) and the Qatari Chamber of Commerce.

The one-day forum is being attended by 38 Turkish companies from a range of fields, including construction, electronics, agricultural equipment, clothing, foodstuffs and automobile manufacture.

According to Ahmet Gulec, a member of TIM's board of directors, TIM includes roughly 71,000 Turkish firms working in the export field.

Speaking at the forum, Gulec said that Turkish businesspeople looked forward to entering the Qatari market, which, he noted, had recently enjoyed a boom in the infrastructure and construction sectors.

Mohammed bin Ahmed Al Kuwari, vice chairman of Qatar's Chamber of Commerce and Industry, for his part, said that more than 200 Turkish companies were currently operating in the Qatari market.

"The total value of projects now underway by Turkish construction companies in Qatar stands at $11.6 billion," Al Kuwari said at the forum's opining session.

Turkish Ambassador to Qatar Fikret Ozer, meanwhile, hailed the close cooperation seen between Ankara and Doha following the imposition last year of a trade embargo on Qatar by a Saudi-led bloc of Arab states.

According to Ozer, the total value of Turkish exports to Qatar has risen over the past year to more than $650 million while Qatari exports to Turkey now stand at $264 million.