Business as usual for Qatari economy: Trade minister

By Ahmed Youssef Elsayed Abdelrehim and Afra Aksoy

DOHA

Commercial activity in Qatar has continued uninterrupted despite an ongoing embargo by a handful of other Arab states, according to Qatar’s economy and trade minister.

Speaking on state television late Sunday, Ahmed bin Jassim al-Thani attributed this to Qatar’s “solid and diversified economy” and the fact that it is a leading LNG producer and major exporter of petrochemical products.

“Our products are exported to every corner of the world -- from Southwest Asia to Europe and America,” he said.

“Almost 70 percent of Qatar's GDP is based on the non-oil sectors,” he added. “Our economy has the capacity to deal with such crises.”

Regarding the two-week-old blockade, the minister said Qatar had “plans” for dealing with it.

“Despite the embargo, commercial activities in the country have continued; life has not changed,” he said.

“Qatar has faced similar difficulties before and our economy wasn’t affected,” he added. “In fact, Qatar emerged from those difficulties with even more opportunities and power”.

He also stressed that the infrastructure projects being carried out in the country, along with FIFA 2022 World Cup projects, would all be completed on schedule.

Seizures

The minister also said that some cargo containers belonging to Qatari businessmen had been seized in certain free trade zones “without justification”, which, he added, raised concerns about commercial security between Gulf countries.

“Qatari businessmen, who have considerable inventory in free trade zones in countries that have imposed the embargo, are having difficulty running their businesses,” he said.

“We have found alternative sources for our imports. Things are better than we expected,” the minister added. “Actually, the situation [i.e., the embargo] has negatively affected suppliers in these countries.”

Asserting that the embargo had actually created new opportunities for Qatari companies, he said that Qatar had not exhausted its supply of vital commodities thanks to alternative sources for many imports.

On June 5, five Arab states -- Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Yemen -- abruptly cut diplomatic ties with Qatar, accusing it of supporting terrorism.

Mauritania followed suit the next day, while Jordan has downgraded its diplomatic representation in Doha.

Saudi Arabia also sealed its land border with Qatar, geographically isolating the small Gulf peninsula.

Qatar, for its part, strenuously denies accusations that it supports terrorism, describing the moves to isolate it as “unjustified”.