Qatar trade policy review achieves remarkable success

The State of Qatar has achieved great success in the WorldTrade Organization Review with regard to its economic and trade policies. Itanswered over 200 questions aimed at assessing the extent of its commitment toimplement the requirements of the conventions and rules of the organization .The Member States commended the answers provided by the delegation of the Stateof Qatar , including clarifications related to the strategy of national developmentfor the State of Qatar 2011-2016 within the framework of Qatar Vision 2030 , as wellas the report prepared by Qatar in the context of this review , which allowed theMember States of the Organization to have broader understanding of the Qatarieconomy and other trade-related policies , in addition to the challenges it faces.In the final statement of the meeting on the Trade Policy Review of the State ofQatar, Ambassador Joachim Reiter, Chair of the WTO Trade Policy Review said thatthe discussions and exchange of views among Member States had contributedsignificantly to further deepening understanding .He also praised the Qatari high-level delegation headed by HE Minister of Economyand Trade Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, terming the Qatari report as avaluable reference for the organization .”The members also commended the high economic growth rates and lowunemployment rate and low inflation rate as well as several other enormouseconomic achievements made by Qatar during the past few years .The Member States also welcomed the efforts made by Qatar to diversify itseconomy and the lack of direct dependence on oil and gas , in addition to its effortsto ensure justice between generations, especially with regard to the best use ofnon-renewable resources through establishing projects the health, education andinfrastructure sectors .They also praised measures taken by Qatar to facilitate customs procedures and theestablishment of an integrated single window system with the relevant authoritiesto simplify the registration procedures of trade in order to improve the businessenvironment and investment promotion.They also commended the positive role played by the State of Qatar including thehosting of the Fourth Ministerial Conference of WTO , which is considered one of themost successful ministerial conferences ever held which saw the launch of the DohaDevelopment Agenda , which encouraged Qatar to strengthen its participation in theWTO activities and the fulfillment of the notifications requirements.