Doha: Active political dialogue and economic cooperation are among a range of areas Germany is seeking to further develop with Qatar, says new Ambassador of Germany to Qatar, H E Dr. Claudius Fischbach.
He said that Germany is also looking forward to building on existing partnerships with Qatar in areas such as education and culture. Fischbach took over as Ambassador to Qatar in August.
“Qatar has become an interesting place for politics, a business hub and a lively place for cultural exchange,” said Fischbach, addressing a virtual press conference yesterday.
“Qatar has seen breathtaking development with the ports, airport, highways, bridges and buildings with modern architecture. In the past two decades, Qatar has become a key political player with its role in major conflicts. It will be one of my main interests and objectives to promote continuous political dialogue between Berlin and Doha on a high level,” he added.
Fischbach highlighted the continuous dialogue between Qatar and Germany on several issues of mutual interest. He said in recent years Qatar has developed special expertise in mediation and in facilitating negotiations between conflicting parties including in Lebanon, Sudan-Darfur and Afghanistan.
“Germany will support Qatar in its efforts of mediation. Qatar having become such an important player in the region, Germany is always interested in learning more about Qatar’s points of view and its strategies,” said Fischbach.
He said Germany is keen to see that Gulf States will overcome the ongoing dispute. Fischbach also remarked on Qatar’s labour reforms over the past years and said that Germany stands ready to support Qatar in its ‘remarkable effort’.
“The first regional non-discriminatory minimum wage and other reforms to strengthen the rights of migrant workers (abolition of NOC, abolition of exit permits, establishment of dispute settlement committees, wage protection system etc.) set a precedent for the entire region in terms of a modern labour market,” said Fischbach.
“I am convinced that these reforms are essential not only from a human rights perspective. They also make Qatar a much more attractive place to work for the hundreds of thousands of migrant workers which the country needs to implement its National Vision 2030,” he added.
With regard to trade and investment, Fischbach said that there is a solid foundation for future growth of the bilateral economic relations. “Qatar offers a very attractive environment for investments, due in large part to the efforts by the authorities to improve the ease of doing business indicators in the country,” he said.
Fischbach said that the COVID-19 pandemic has given an opportunity to identify areas with a high potential for mutually beneficial cooperation such as pharmaceuticals and artificial intelligence, in which Germany can offer technological support to Qatar.
“The pandemic offers new opportunities. We can observe successful new cooperations already: Qatar Investment Authority has invested in the German pharmaceutical company CureVac, a major hopeful in researching a vaccine against COVID-19. Qatari authorities have also secured (future) delivery of a vaccine developed by the German company BioNTec which will hopefully be available very soon (phase 3 efficacy trials underway),” he said.
At present around 300 German companies are operating in Qatar and Fischbach said that he expects other German companies to seize the opportunities arising from Qatar’s hosting of the 2022 FIFA World Cup and invest in Doha.