Mohammed Barakat, USQBC Managing Director & Treasurer of the Board of Directors, and Fahad Al Dosari, Qatar’s Commercial Attaché to the United States, during a meeting with Michael Hancock, Mayor of Denver, in the US, on Thursday.
Doha: The US-Qatar Business Council (USQBC), Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, and World Trade Center Denver, collaborated on a business visit to Denver, Colorado on Thursday to engage with key policy makers and the local business community to expand and enhance economic partnerships between the State of Qatar and the State of Colorado.
The business visit featured a number of officials including Dianne Primavera, Lieutenant Governor of Colorado; Michael Hancock, Mayor of Denver; Fahad Al Dosari, Qatar’s Commercial Attaché to the United States; Mohammed Al Abdulla, CEO at Doha Venture Capital; Hamad Al Mohannadi, Business Development Manager at Qatar Free Zones Authority; Mohammed Barakat, USQBC Managing Director and Treasurer of the Board of Directors; J.J. Ament, President, and CEO of Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, and Karen Gerwitz, President of World Trade Center Denver.
During the business visit, Al Dosari and Barakat had met separately with Primavera and Hancock to discuss enhancing business ties. In a press statement, Rashid Al Deheimi, Consul General of the State of Qatar said: “Qatar sees many opportunities to further increase bilateral business and investment opportunities with Colorado. This event illuminated the many areas where we can enhance commercial partnerships between Colorado and Qatar, and we look forward to furthering these discussions”.
Primavera said: “Colorado’s economy is building back stronger so there is tremendous opportunity, across a variety of industries, to expand our international reach for increased commercial partnerships between our two communities”.
Hancock added: “These exchanges present opportunities for increased bilateral trade and investment in synergistic industries that Denver and Qatar share, from technology and agriculture to professional services, cleantech, smart cities and many more. We also see this as another indicator that Denver’s reputation as a thriving global city and international market continues to grow”.
During the Business Seminar hosted at the Denver Metro Chamber of Commerce, participants were able to network, learn, and explore business opportunities between Colorado and Qatar.
Al Dosari presented on Qatar’s attractive economic environment while Barakat discussed the strength of the US-Qatar business relationship.
“Qatar is committed to expanding the economic partnership with Colorado. We look forward to further conversations on how our business communities can work together in areas such as manufacturing, agriculture, logistics, and infrastructure & engineering,” said Al Dosari.
“Colorado and Qatar have already shared a flourishing trade relationship which is evidenced by Colorado having exported $11.974m of goods to Qatar in 2019. This visit demonstrates the commitment both sides have to increasing investment and commercial ties across their many overlapping industries,” Barakat added.
A special virtual session was also presented in collaboration with Colorado Smart Cities Alliance and Colorado Cleantech Industry Association. During the session, Al Abdulla and Al Mohannadi delivered presentations on recent developments and incentives for foreign investors in Qatar Free Zones as well as Doha Venture Capital Fund’s strategic investment priorities.
“Qatar offers investors a package of incentives that include benefiting from trade ties, bilateral investment protection, tax and free trade agreements, right to properties ownership, and labor laws which give foreign companies a competitive advantage. In addition to that, Qatar Free Zones Authority offers attractive investment benefits to registered companies such as tax exemptions, exceptional services & modern facilities, and partnership opportunities with large companies in the country to maximise production benefits,” said Al Mohannadi.
There is significant overlap between key industries in Qatar and Colorado including manufacturing, defense, financial services, energy, infrastructure, transportation, logistics, and technology. Colorado ranks in the top 10 for solar energy jobs and has the 4th highest concentration of tech jobs in the country, both of which are significant areas of interest for Qatar’s expanding economy.
“Colorado companies are some of the nation’s best and true leaders in their respective industries. We are proud to welcome organisations like the US-Qatar Business Council to our community to build relationships and share opportunities,” said Ament.
The bilateral business ties between the United States and Qatar continue to solidify with the total economic relationship between them exceeding $200bn as of 2019. The US is Qatar’s largest foreign direct investor with a total of $110.6bn in FDI and is the largest single source of exports to Qatar at $6.5bn in goods in 2019. In the past five years, Qatar has imported over $23bn from the US, and over 850 US companies now operate in Qatar.
“We look forward to many new partnerships and commercial opportunities between the State of Qatar and the State of Colorado. Both Qatar and the US are some of the best places in the world for business, and we see many opportunities for Colorado companies in Qatar and welcome Qatari investment in Colorado,” Gerwitz added.
Qatar is also an increasingly large investor in the United States having pledged over $45bn in investment over the coming years with key investments already having been made across multiple sectors including oil & gas, financial technology, real estate, food production, and hospitality, among others.
Denver is home to one of the largest American IT companies, Palantir Technologies, which specialises in Big Data Analytics and already has strong ties to Qatar. The company recently relocated its headquarters to Denver which reinforces Denver’s position as a leading technology hub in the country.
Qatar Free Zones are designed to provide investors with a global competitive advantage across various key sectors, in addition to providing a business-friendly environment and world-class services that contribute to enhancing the financial and operational performance of companies.
