The Qatar Chamber, in cooperation with Azerbaijan Export and Investment Promotion Foundation (AZPROMO), held on Tuesday the Qatari-Azerbaijani Business Meeting through video conferencing.

The virtual meeting aimed at reviewing aspects of cooperation between the Qatari private sector and its Azerbaijani counterpart as well as exploring investment opportunities available in both sides and boosting cooperation between businessmen of both countries.

Addressing the meeting, QC First Vice Chairman Mohamed bin Ahmed bin Twar Al Kuwari praised the distinguished relations between both countries which have seen continuing development since the visit of HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani to Azerbaijan in March 2016 and the visit of HE the President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev in February 2017, noting that these visits have established a new phase of cooperation in all fields and witnessed signing many agreements to enhance cooperation between the two friendly countries, in addition to an agreement to form the joint economic, trade and technical committee between the government of the State of Qatar and the government of the Republic of Azerbaijan, to be the basis for pushing the level of economic and trade relations to that of the distinguished diplomatic relations.

As for the bilateral trade between Qatar and Azerbaijan, Al Kuwari said that it reached QR 47 million in 2020 compared with QR 5 million in 2019 and QR 3 million in 2018, indicating that this volume doesn't reflect the close relations between them and the huge potential available in both countries, calling on the private sector in the two countries to take the initiative to increase the volume of intra-trade to the level of ambitions.

Al Kuwari also said that bolstering cooperation and establishing more alliances and commercial partnerships between Qatari and Azerbaijani businessmen would develop the two countries' trade exchange and investments, expressing the preparedness of Qatar Chamber to provide support and assistance for Azerbaijani businessmen who are willing to invest in Qatar and forge genuine partnerships with their Qatari counterparts.

There are 11 Azerbaijan-Qatar companies working in Qatar, he noted, expressing his hope to increase these commercial alliances between the private sectors of both countries. He expected that the post-Coronavirus (COVID-19) period will witness more rapprochement between the two sides and activate the joint business council between Qatari and Azerbaijani businessmen.

Elaborating the incentives of investment in Qatar, he said that the State has developed a very sophisticated infrastructure and issued a slew of economic legislation that placed Qatar among the worlds top destinations for investments and business.

"Qatar has built an attractive investment environment through the facilities and incentives it offers for foreign investors, which allowed 100% ownership as well as exemption from income tax and customs duties on imported machines and equipment," he added.

He called on Azerbaijani companies to invest in Qatar which offers a plenty of investment opportunities at all sectors and invited Qatari companies to explore the investment opportunities available in Azerbaijan in food, agriculture, energy and tourism and other sectors.