On the occasion of the National Day of Qatar, Ambassador Mohamed bin Ismail Al Emadi sends a message of celebration to Việt Nam News.

The timeline of Qatar's modern history begins in the eighteenth century when all tribes gathered under the rule of the Al Thani family. This paved the way for more stability in the country, independence from neighboring countries, and the forging of balanced relations with different influential parties in the region.

Qatar’s National Day (QND) is celebrated on December 18th. On this day, Qatari people commemorate founding of the modern State of Qatar in 1878 by the late Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed bin Thani.

Ambassador Mohamed bin Ismail Al Emadi awards annual scholarships to students of the Division of Arabic Language & Culture from the University of Languages and International Studies (ULIS). Photo Courtesy of Qatar Embassy

The State of Qatar has adopted in 2008 the "Qatar vision 2030", which aims at transforming Qatar into an advanced society capable of achieving sustainable development and securing a high standard of living for its people for generations to come. 

The National Vision builds on a society that promotes justice, benevolence and equality. The Vision embodies the principles of the Permanent Constitution which;

- protects public and personal freedoms;

- promotes moral and religious values and traditions;

- and, guarantees security, stability and equal opportunities.

As the rest of the world, Qatar has had its share of struggle with the COVID-19 outbreak. Indeed the country is impacted by a dual shock with declining economic activities due to the pandemic across various sectors and the immense shock of lower energy prices.

The Qatari government acted quickly to fight the pandemic by adopting a COVID-19 National Response Plan. The plan sets out actions required to ensure that the health, wellbeing and prosperity of Qatar’s people are protected. As a result, health authorities have taken timely, proportionate and effective actions, and they were able to control the virus. There have been a low number of deaths; and sufficient healthcare capacity has been available to treat all of those who are infected.

To secure a coronavirus vaccine for its people, Qatar has signed agreements with several vaccination companies. It expects to receive the vaccines in the coming weeks or beginning of 2021.

Despite challenging times, Qatar remains one of the most competitive and powerful economies in the region. known for its gas reserves, Qatar has not been affected by the drop in the price of oil to the extent of other countries who heavily rely on oil exports, and are now forced into making painful public spending adjustments. 

The State of Qatar has made major strides in transforming the education sector, spearheaded by the Qatar Foundation and a number of foreign universities with branches in Education City. In addition to the universities, Education City also hosts world class scientific and research companies in the Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) and major funding has been allocated to new schools. The growth and improvement in quality of Qatar’s health sector has also been a major success story. The first National Health Strategy (NHS) 2011 – 2016 has helped to deliver the health objectives contained in the National Vision 2030, with the human development pillar entailing a holistic and modern healthcare infrastructure that caters to all.

Qatar’s investment in health is also much more forward-thinking than simply building new healthcare facilities and staffing them. One of the NHS’ seven strategic goals is an ambitious home-grown healthcare research programme, and this will only strengthen Qatar’s transition towards a diversified, knowledge-based economy.

The National Museum of Qatar. Photo Courtesy of Qatar Embassy

The state of Qatar is now diversifying its revenues to minimise risk from a reliance on energy prices. With assets now estimated to be around $330 billion, the QIA is helping to guarantee Qatar’s future economic sustainability by not only providing alternative sources of income but the huge amount of foreign assets held have been successful in protecting Qatar's strong sovereign credit rating. Qatar’s economic fundamentals remain robust and Qatar will continue to be an outstanding economic success story in the region based on wise leadership.

The State of Qatar has played an active role to promote mediation, based on Qatar’s commitment to renouncing force and coercion, the State of Qatar upholds the need for the peaceful settlement of disputes through mediation. Which is a priority of its foreign policy.

In 2020, the State of Qatar demonstrated its commitment to mediation by hosting the Afghanistan Peace Negotiations. Qatar’s mediation efforts to end the war in Afghanistan succeeded in reaching a historical agreement between the United States and Taliban to bring peace to the country.

Regarding the relations between the State of Qatar and the Socialist Republic of Việt Nam, the two countries stated their commitment to promoting engagement in economy-trade via cooperation between Vietnamese and Qatar chambers of commerce and industry and facilitating local firms’ access to respective markets.

Other sectors of collaboration including politics, foreign affairs, commerce, custom, investment, finance, bank, petrol, agriculture, airline, culture, sport, tourism, education and training (the state of Qatar funds some scholarships to Arabic Language students studying in Vietnamese Universities), justice and labour. As well as cooperation between Qatar News Agency and Vietnam News Agency.

Furthermore, Việt Nam’s PTSC Company has won a contract to build a drilling platform in Qatar. The agreement signed with Qatar’s North Oil Company, includes construction of three wellhead platforms, along with three connecting bridges at Al Shaheen oil and gas field, off the northeast coast of Qatar.

This process is anticipated to create job opportunities for over 3,000 Vietnamese labourers. Also, the two countries signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the field of youth. VNS