The depth of any relation – be it human beings or states – comes to light during a crisis. That’s when you find out who your real friends are.
This was reiterated by Dr Yasin Aktay, Advisor to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, during a visit along with the Middle East Businessmen Council delegation to Doha.
He praised Qatar’s firm stance in support of Ankara during the coup attempt two years back and confirmed that Turkey will not forget those who stood by it and those who chose to remain silent.
This was evident from the fact that Turkey was one of the first countries to come to the help of Qatar when the Arab quartet declared the illegal siege. Ankara helped in exporting essential perishables immediately after the blockade started and later, along with Iran, set-up special trade routes to transport various materials at reasonable cost.
Qatar has been investing in Turkish economy through various projects across sectors and the total investment has crossed QR72.83bn ($20bn). This is expected to shoot up further as both sides are exploring new opportunities to strengthen the ties.
A forum aiming to boost bilateral economic cooperation and investments in both countries will be held in October and business groups – big and small - from both sides are expected to participate and new alliances will be forged.
As per the statistics provided by the visiting business delegation there are more than 300 Turkish companies – big and small - operating in the Qatari market. The volume of projects carried out by these companies amounts to nearly $11.6bn. Among these firms, 26 of them operate with 100 percent Turkish capital.
Strong economic climate of Qatar and the vibrant outlook by international agencies make Doha a preferred destination for international firms and investors. With Qatar 2022 in the horizon there will be many big projects coming up in the country and with their superior technical knowhow and international working standards Turkish firms will be looking at garnering a sizeable pie of the contracts.
There is also a very strategic bond between the two countries as both had to go through some unexpected turn of events in recent times and had to face propaganda assault from the media of blockading countries.
Both stood by each other during the crisis and came out stronger.
The future augurs well for both and the economic and social bond will only grow stronger in time.
