Qatar stronger after siege

Supreme directives for recovery by the country’s leadership are meeting with success, Ambassador Abdulla Hussain Al-Jaber writes

JUNE 5 last year was a turning point in the relations between the GCC Countries (Gulf Co-operation Council) after three of these countries and a fourth regional country cut off political and economic relations and imposed a blockade on the State of Qatar and the closure of land, sea and air borders on one of the founding members of the GCC.

Those countries imposed an unjust siege on the State of Qatar with the aim of influencing its independent sovereign decision. Fabricated pretexts by those countries, included supporting terrorism and interfering in the internal affairs of those countries were baseless accusations.

The intentions of these countries were revealed after they hacked the website of the Qatar News Agency and published a fabricated speech for His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Amir of the State of Qatar, which was later confirmed to have been a penetration of the agency.

Those neighbouring countries that have cut ties with Qatar have reportedly issued a list of demands to end this major Gulf crisis, insisting that Qatar shut down the Al Jazeera network, close a Turkish military base, and scale down ties with Iran.

In the 13-point list, the countries also demanded that Qatar sever all alleged ties with the Muslim Brotherhood and with other groups.

The truth is the State of Qatar is one of the most active countries in fighting against terrorism in the region and is an active member of the International Alliance Against Terrorism. It is working hard to bring peace to the region as a reliable party to resolve conflicts.

This refers to the reason why the international community rejected all false and fabricated statements by the blockade countries, and the reality behind the blockade becomes more and more apparent. It shows that the main objective of this blockade is to blatantly interfere in the internal affairs of the State of Qatar and to influence the independence of its sovereign decision.

The State of Qatar worked very hard to solve the conflict with those countries, asking them to sit at the negotiating table through the Kuwaiti mediator.

Those actions forced Qatari citizens to leave the three Gulf States within 14 days. They prevented any Qatari citizen from entering, and many families were dispersed, some of whom could not complete medical treatment at hospitals.

These decisions violate all human rights and principles, such as freedom of movement, education, employment, expression, residence and property, as well as denial of religious practice, incitement to violence and hatred, and violation of the right to health.

According to the latest census of the National Committee for Human Rights in the State of Qatar, more than 13 314 people were directly affected by these measures.

The rights of more than 2 450 citizens of the four Gulf States have been violated. History will remember these inappropriate acts against Qatar from the Muslim and Arab states.

Despite this unjust and imposed blockade, the state of Qatar has managed to open new air routes to counter the air siege and launched several agreements to open shipping lines with many Arab and international ports, which enabled the country to manage the crisis and efficiently face the siege.

A few days into the unjust siege, supreme directives were issued by the leadership to take the necessary steps to support the industrial sector and move fast towards self-sufficiency.

The results of the supreme directives were almost immediate, with more than 35 factories starting production since the siege began, while many existing factories doubled their production capacity. New factories were also approved.

At the end of July last year, Qatar announced the first production of Al Shaheen Oil Field, the largest offshore oil field in Qatar and one of the largest in the world.

In another achievement, Qatar Petroleum signed an agreement with France’s TOTAL to become a 25% partner in offshore exploration off the coast of South Africa. Agreements have been made with other countries, such as Mexico.

At the level of maritime navigation, the Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani patronised the official opening of Hamad Port in September 2017.

Qatar Ports Management Company (Mwani Qatar) has launched five direct shipping lines between Hamad Port and the ports of Sohar and Salalah in Omani, Shuwaikh Port in Kuwait, Izmir Port in Turkey, and Nhava Sheva Port in India.

Qatar Airways, like other Qatari companies, evaded the embargo and expanded. It opened new stations and won global awards as the world’s best airline.

The World Trade Organisation placed the State of Qatar among the top 20 countries in the services sector of the global competitiveness index. This is an emerging sector that contributes to the success of other sectors and is the backbone of the economy.

Qatar occupied top rank in the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2017, ranking 8th in economic performance, 11th in government efficiency, and 12th in terms of efficiency of the business sector. It was also ranked 17th out of 63 countries, mostly developed countries.

The Global Competitiveness Report published by the World Economic Forum confirmed that the Qatari capital market is the best and most important financial market in the Arab region, and one of the top 10 financial markets in the world.