Qatar welcomes the world (1)

DOHA, the capital of Qatar, is a tiny city of 51 square miles, a bit smaller than Quezon City’s 64 square miles. The country has a population of two million inhabitants; 90 percent live in Doha.

Foreign workers make up almost 90 percent of the population. Indians are the largest at around 545,000, while 300,000 Filipinos are among many other nationalities.

Although surrounded by much bigger Arab neighbors, Qatar is reshaping its landscape, reclaiming lands from the sea. It is trying to become the cultural center of the Arab world. Under construction is the National Museum of Qatar.

Egypt, the center of Arab in learning, culture, and political power, appears to have lost that title after the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) was rocked by terrorist activity.

Today, Qatar, which is part of the 22 countries comprising the Arab world is having a renaissance of sorts. Doha has a large concentration of the most fantastically designed skyscrapers in the world.

The capital is home to Education City, an area devoted to research and education.

Doha held the 2006 Asian Games, the 2011 Pan Arab Games, and most of the games at the 2011 AFC Asian Cup, and the UNFCCC Climate Negotiations in December, 2012.

Qatar will be the center of the football world when it hosts the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Doha is building at least eight stadiums within the sprawling metropolis to house all the athletes and participate in the games. Each stadium has an average of 45,000 seats and the biggest, the Doha Iconic Stadium, has a seating capacity of 89,000.

To connect the FIFA venues, Doha is constructing a Metro rail system and wide avenues for all sorts of vehicles.

Qatar Airways serves a direct route to Manila eight times a week. It flies out of the Ninoy Aquino International Airport and the Clark International Airport.

Since 2010, the airline has asked President Benigno Aquino’s administration for 13 more additional flights.

Our Civil Aviation Administration (CAB) is scheduled to fly to Doha for a new round of air consultations with Qatar Civil Aviation Authority on May 27- 28.

Qatar Airways is asking for 13 more entitlements. Emirates and Etihad Airways have 21 flights a week to Manila.

(To be continued)