Sponsors
Diamond
Strategic Partner
Official Inv. Banking Firm
Platinum
Gold
Silver
Official Car Rental
Qatar Economic Forum
Doha, Qatar
17 - 18 Apr 2006
Location
Qatar is an independent state in the Southern Arabian Gulf surrounded by Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates and Iran. The country is situated midway along the western coast of the Arabian Gulf between latitudes 24.27° - 26.10° North and longitude 50.45° - 51.40° East. It is approximately 11,437 square kilometers on a low-lying limestone peninsula projecting northward about 160 kilometers into the Gulf. The coastline is 550 kilometers long and bounds the country to the west, north and east.
Area
Total: 11,437 sq km Water: 0 sq km Land: 11,437 sq km
Capital City
Doha
Population
In March 2004, The Planning Council announced the preliminary phase results of the new population census. According to the 2004 census, Qatar’s population reached 742,883 increasing by 42.3% from the 1997 census of 522,023. The 2004 census shows an average annual increase of 6.0% during the period 1997-2004, compared to the annual average increase of 3.7% during 1986-1997. The rapid increase in population over the last few years is attributed to the strong performance of the economy, which has resulted in a large number of projects coming online, thereby leading to the influx of professionals, service and contracting sector staff and others.
Religion
Islam is the official religion of the country, and the Shariah (Islamic Law) is the principal source of legislation in the country.
Languages
Arabic (official), English commonly used as a second language
Topography
Qatar generally consists of flat rocky surfaces. It does, however, include some hills and sand dunes, which reach an altitude of 40m above sea level in the western and northern parts of the country. Qatar is characterized by a number of geographical features, which are peculiar to the western side of the Arabian Gulf. These include rainwater-draining basins found mainly in the north and central areas of the country. These two areas are considered the most fertile and have attracted heavy agricultural investment.
Climate
The climate is characterized by a mild winter and a hot summer. Rainfall in the winter is slight, averaging some 80 millimeters a year. Temperatures range from 7 degrees centigrade in January to around 45 degrees at the height of summer. The weather is generally pleasant during the period from October until May.
Economy
The economy of Qatar is one of the active economies in the Middle East and is mainly dependent upon the ebb and flow of revenues generated by Qatar's hydrocarbon wealth and its related industry. But, luckily for the people of Qatar, national income is spread around only 630,000 people of whom 200,000 are foreigners. This means that national income per capita is one of the highest in the world. Qatari nationals are on average among the wealthiest in the world.The cornerstone of Qatar's economy is the exploitation of its hydrocarbon resources. Since the mid-1980's, there has been a major breakthrough in the economic situation, with the discovery of the world's largest known non-associated offshore gas field in Qatar territory; placing the country Third in terms of world natural gas reserves. Considerable resources have been invested in the development of facilities to exploit, process and export this invaluable commodity.
As well as being a major oil and gas producer and exporter, Qatar also boasts a diversified and fast-expanding industrial sector with a variety of heavy, medium and light industries concentrated in three industrial areas: Mesaieed Industrial Area, the new Ras Lattan Industrial City, and the Doha Industrial Area.
The government is moving rapidly towards the creation of a more flexible business climate in Qatar to encourage more foreign investment in downstream industrial projects of both large and medium scale.
The drive of modernization and reform that has followed the accession of HH The Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa AI- Thani in 1995 is clearly behind the great optimism and confidence that Qatar has in the years to come.
Oil and Gas
The government of Qatar carries on its efforts to improve its production and reservoir potentials through the continued efforts to develop onshore and offshore fields like Al-Shaheen, Al-Idd Al-Sharqi, Dukhan and Al-Khaleej fields.It likewise works to develop the gas sector of which reservoir is estimated at 380,000 billion cubic feet, which makes Qatar the top third country in the world in gas reservoir after Iran and Russia. Aspiring to be one of the biggest exporters of gas in the world, Qatar inaugurated Ras Laffan Corporation for natural gas and Qatar Liquefied Gas Corporation, which started production three years ago. A further accomplishment is building Ras Laffan port, which is considered the biggest port for gas exportation in the world. This was associated with parallel accomplishments in the infrastructure and procurement of giant gas transporters.
In the field of marketing, the State of Qatar merchandises gas products around the world. As a result, it has signed long-term agreements with Japan, Korea, and the Indian Petronet Establishment, which purchased about 7.5 million metric tons of liquefied gas. It has signed a primary agreement with the Taiwanese firm Tong-Teng to provide it with 1.8 million metric tons of liquefied gas for 25 years.
Products and Exports of Oil Sector
In 2000, the average daily production mounted up to 687,000 barrels of crude oil, 44.5% of which was from onshore fields and 55.3% came from offshore fields. The country's daily share in this amount was 573,000 barrels. The average exported amount of crude oil was 554,000 barrels in the same year, which brought in QR20 billions.
Media
The Qatari media continues its conscientious efforts to carry out its mission of fostering civil society. Its role is to highlight Qatar's contemporary developments reflect its genuine Arabian and Islamic heritage and morals. The Qatari media also advocates national as well as Gulf, Arab and Islamic causes.
Tourism
The State cares a lot for tourism and provides all facilities and incentives so that this vital sector can cope with the pace at which other sectors are developing. This patronage stems from the firm policy adopted by HH the Emir, HH the Heir Apparent and the government to open up to the outside world. The General Authority for Tourism was established in line with this policy, with the aim to promote Qatar locally, regionally and internationally, and support activities relating to the general trends of the Qatari policy.