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Ailyn Agonia
DOHA
A host of commercial deals between Qatari and American firms is likely to be announced during the Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani’s upcoming visit to Washington, Chief of Mission and Charge d’Affaires of the US in Qatar HE William Grant said on Wednesday.
“The Amir’s visit will be very big,” Grant said, adding that the two sides will hold talks on a range of issues such as defence cooperation, trade and commerce.
“Discussions on the Gulf crisis and Iran are also expected during the meeting between HH the Amir and US President Donald Trump,” Grant said during a media roundtable hosted on Wednesday.
“We are looking forward to the upcoming visit by HH the Amir to the US and we fully anticipate that it’s going to be a very big visit. The Amir will meet with Trump and many other senior officials of the US government. We also expect that he will be spending time meeting the most important members of the US Congress. It’s important for Qatar to have good relationship with members of Congress as well as the President and his team,” he said.
Grant described the bilateral relationship between the US and Qatar as “active and diverse” with the two countries engaging in activities that help and support the interests of both the sides.
In the field of defence, he said the long-standing and diverse relationship of the two countries is growing and anchored on some shared goals that include combating terrorism, promoting security and stability in the region and developing the capacity of both the American and Qatari militaries.
“All of the military services of the US now have good cooperation with their counterparts in Qatar whether it’s navy, army, coast guard and air force. We are working together with Qatar on what we call transnational treats, issues like controlling the problem of human trafficking, dealing with the problem of money laundering and working very closely together to stop the flow of financing for terrorism.”
He further added, “These are threats to our country, to Qatar and the region. And one of the challenges is sometimes they don’t involve governments, they involve other actors, organisations, individuals. It’s harder to get a hand on what to do. But the threats are real. We are concerned about them and we have been working very well with Qatar on addressing these negative issues to try to control them and reduce them and the effects for Qatar and the region.”
On the commercial and trade aspect of Qatar-US relations, Grant described it as “booming”.
He said, “The Qatar-US commercial and trade relationship has always been strong but it is really getting stronger now. We expect HH the Amir and the US President to announce some commercial deals during the visit involving US and Qatari companies. We have seen the Qatar Petroleum and Chevron Phillips Chemical announcement of the recent deal for the construction of a very large plant in Ras Laffan. That is just one example of many business deals between our two countries. From the US standpoint, we see lots of purchases of Boeing aircraft, purchases of jet engines manufactured in the US, purchase of defense equipment from our companies that are among the best in the world to help improve Qatar security as well as hi-tech cyber defense products and more.”
Similarly, the official underscored the strong presence of American companies in Qatar. According to him, American companies are very active in Qatar particularly in the energy sector where “we major US companies are involved for years”.
“American companies find Qatar as a good place to do business and this boom of our commercial relationship helps the two economies, helps create jobs and provides many benefits,” said Grant.
He also reiterated the importance of people-to-people ties between Qatar and the US, citing the over a thousand of students from Qatar going to universities in the US and the strong presence of the six top-ranked American universities in Education City.
He also mentioned a growing interest among Americans to consider Qatar as a tourist destination.We are looking forward to the upcoming visit by HH the Amir to the US and we fully anticipate that it’s going to be a very big visit. Qatar-US bilateral relationship is active and diverse, commercial and trade ties are booming.”
William Grant, Chief of Mission and Charge d’Affaires of the US in Qatar
DOHA
A host of commercial deals between Qatari and American firms is likely to be announced during the Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani’s upcoming visit to Washington, Chief of Mission and Charge d’Affaires of the US in Qatar HE William Grant said on Wednesday.
“The Amir’s visit will be very big,” Grant said, adding that the two sides will hold talks on a range of issues such as defence cooperation, trade and commerce.
“Discussions on the Gulf crisis and Iran are also expected during the meeting between HH the Amir and US President Donald Trump,” Grant said during a media roundtable hosted on Wednesday.
“We are looking forward to the upcoming visit by HH the Amir to the US and we fully anticipate that it’s going to be a very big visit. The Amir will meet with Trump and many other senior officials of the US government. We also expect that he will be spending time meeting the most important members of the US Congress. It’s important for Qatar to have good relationship with members of Congress as well as the President and his team,” he said.
Grant described the bilateral relationship between the US and Qatar as “active and diverse” with the two countries engaging in activities that help and support the interests of both the sides.
In the field of defence, he said the long-standing and diverse relationship of the two countries is growing and anchored on some shared goals that include combating terrorism, promoting security and stability in the region and developing the capacity of both the American and Qatari militaries.
“All of the military services of the US now have good cooperation with their counterparts in Qatar whether it’s navy, army, coast guard and air force. We are working together with Qatar on what we call transnational treats, issues like controlling the problem of human trafficking, dealing with the problem of money laundering and working very closely together to stop the flow of financing for terrorism.”
He further added, “These are threats to our country, to Qatar and the region. And one of the challenges is sometimes they don’t involve governments, they involve other actors, organisations, individuals. It’s harder to get a hand on what to do. But the threats are real. We are concerned about them and we have been working very well with Qatar on addressing these negative issues to try to control them and reduce them and the effects for Qatar and the region.”
On the commercial and trade aspect of Qatar-US relations, Grant described it as “booming”.
He said, “The Qatar-US commercial and trade relationship has always been strong but it is really getting stronger now. We expect HH the Amir and the US President to announce some commercial deals during the visit involving US and Qatari companies. We have seen the Qatar Petroleum and Chevron Phillips Chemical announcement of the recent deal for the construction of a very large plant in Ras Laffan. That is just one example of many business deals between our two countries. From the US standpoint, we see lots of purchases of Boeing aircraft, purchases of jet engines manufactured in the US, purchase of defense equipment from our companies that are among the best in the world to help improve Qatar security as well as hi-tech cyber defense products and more.”
Similarly, the official underscored the strong presence of American companies in Qatar. According to him, American companies are very active in Qatar particularly in the energy sector where “we major US companies are involved for years”.
“American companies find Qatar as a good place to do business and this boom of our commercial relationship helps the two economies, helps create jobs and provides many benefits,” said Grant.
He also reiterated the importance of people-to-people ties between Qatar and the US, citing the over a thousand of students from Qatar going to universities in the US and the strong presence of the six top-ranked American universities in Education City.
He also mentioned a growing interest among Americans to consider Qatar as a tourist destination.We are looking forward to the upcoming visit by HH the Amir to the US and we fully anticipate that it’s going to be a very big visit. Qatar-US bilateral relationship is active and diverse, commercial and trade ties are booming.”
William Grant, Chief of Mission and Charge d’Affaires of the US in Qatar
