By Fazeena Saleem
DOHA: Defence and security are among a range of areas the UK is seeking to develop with Qatar, says Ajay Sharma, the new British ambassador. The UK is also looking forward to building on existing partnerships with Qatar in areas such as diplomacy, trade, education and health. Sharma took over as ambassador in November.
“I would like Qatar and the UK to have a relationship where the UK is the first choice for Qatar across the board and that’s something which I think is achievable,” said Sharma at a press conference at the embassy premises yesterday. “Qatar is our partner in defence. It’s a very strong relation and we want to take it forward. There are two elements to defence relationship — what we are doing practically on the ground and how you handle that. How you prepare for that is about having right training, also having right equipment,” said Sharma.
“Defence and security cooperations are wider than counter Daesh. It’s also about how we can support them to develop their capabilities and the capacities, in terms of training the military. A lot of Qataris have been trained in the UK military academies,” he added. Sharma also said that he is hopeful that Qatar would purchase British-made Typhoon fighter jets, which is under discussion at present. The UK is also working with Qatar on regional issues especially in political areas.
As for trade, the ambassador said Qatar is the UK’s third largest export market in the Middle East and North Africa region (Mena) after the UAE and Saudi Arabia.
The value of Qatari goods imported to the UK in 2014 stood at £3.5bn.
After the first nine months of 2015, it was up by 30 percent, compared to the corresponding period in 2014.
Shell is Britain’s largest foreign investor in Qatar, followed by Vodafone.
UK businesses have a significant presence in the financial, business and legal sectors.
The Qatar Science and Technology Park (QSTP) has a number of important collaborations with UK companies and institutions such as Imperial College London, Sheffield University, Virgin Health Bank, Rolls Royce and Shell.
Sherborne School opened its doors in September 2009 as part of Qatar’s Outstanding Schools Initiative. University College London has a campus in Education City.
“Education and culture are very much part of bilateral relationship and we want to further expand it.
“There are many Qataris studying in the UK and we are fortunate to have British institutes represented in Qatar. We want to promote that exchange,” said Sharma.
At present, Qataris wishing to visit the UK for less than six months have been able to take advantage of the UK’s Electronic Visa Waiver (EVW) programme.
More than 34,500 Qataris registered for EVW in 2015. Over 11,000 visas were issued to those not using the EVW system last year. Almost half of these applications were from general visitors.
The Peninsula
