The Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), one of the world's leading and fastest growing onshore business and financial centres, successfully engaged with key German businesses during panel discussions that were held in Berlin on the side-lines of the 6th session of the Joint Qatari-German Commission on Economic, Commercial and Technical Cooperation.

Organised by the Minister of Commerce and Industry, Qatar, in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, Germany, the event was attended by a Qatari delegation that included the Ministry of Commerce and Industry; Ministry of Public Health; Ministry of Education and Higher Education; Ministry of Finance; Ministry of Municipality and Environment; Ministry of Transport and Communications as well as other public and private entities. Over 120 German companies participated in the forum from a wide range of industries, including multinationals such as Airbus, Siemens and many others.  

Discussions were held under the theme "From Berlin to Doha", and included two panels focusing on driving economic diversification and the future of artificial intelligence and Smart Cities and what it means for Business, respectively.

Panelists

Yousuf Mohamed Al-Jaida, Chief Executive Officer, QFC Authority;
Saud Al-Attiyah, Director of Economic Policy and Research, Ministry of Finance, Qatar;
Nabil Mohammed Al Khalidi, Chief Executive Officer, Mawani Qatar;
Abdulla Al-Misnad, Deputy Chief Executive, Qatar Free Zones Authority;
Ibrahim Al Mannai, Executive Director, Qatar Development Bank;
Iman Al-Kuwari, Programmer, Ministry of Transport and Communications, Qatar;
Ahmed Al Said, of Qatar Science and Technology Park and Thomas Liber of Ooredoo.

German speakers included:

Oliver Hermes, CEO, WILO SE;
Achim Hartig, Managing Director Investor Consulting, Germany Trade and Invest (GTAI);
Olaf Hoffmann, CEO, Dorsch Gruppe;
Alexander Tettenborn, Head of the Development of Digital Technologies division, Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy;
Jack Thoms, DFKI German Center for Artificial Intelligence;
Dr. Steffen Wieczorek, SAP;
Dr. Stephen Gackstätter, Roland Berger.

Yousuf Mohamed Al-Jaida, Chief Executive Officer, QFC Authority
"The Qatar Financial Centre is proud to have participated in these panel discussions, which brought together key stakeholders from both countries to discuss areas of further economic cooperation. Germany has been and will remain an important partner and market for Qatar and the Qatar Financial Centre, with bilateral trade reaching €1.9 billion, which accounts for 1.8% of Qatar's foreign trade. As such, the QFC will continue to engage with the German business community to further strengthen our valued partnerships."

Qatar and Germany have well-established economic relations, with H.H. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Amir of the State of Qatar, announcing a €10 billion investment in Germany over the next five years in the automobile, IT and banking sectors. The number of German companies operating in Qatar has reached over 300 with a combined capital of €340 million. The QFC is also home to four German firms including Deutsche Bank, Rödl & Partner Middle East, MedGulf Takaful and Karcher LLC.

The QFC is an onshore jurisdiction that allows registered companies to enjoy competitive benefits, such as working within a legal environment based on English common law, the right to trade in any currency, up to 100% foreign ownership, 100% repatriation of profits, 10% corporate tax on locally sourced profits, and an extensive double taxation avoidance agreement network with 70+ countries.