Dr. Khalid Al-Shafi
Dr. Khalid Al-Shafi
Editor-in-Chief
I visited Georgia October this year at the invitation of His Excellency Nikoloz Revazishvili, Ambassador of Georgia to my beloved country Qatar, and interviewed a number of senior officials during my five-day visit.
The trip coincided with the Tbilisi Silk Road Forum, which was attended by top senior officials of the host country and ministers from several countries, including Qatar’s Minister of Transportation and Communications, H E Jassim bin Saif Al Sulaiti and his accompanying delegation.
Georgia, a country bordering the eastern coast of the Black Sea, is well known to Qataris as a tourist destination with stunning nature, landscapes and historical monuments.
It is not known much as an attractive investment destination for foreign investments, despite the great facilities offered by Georgia to investors such as immediate residency, and fast speed of obtaining and registering licences for companies, in addition to buying and selling real estate.
We arrived in Tbilisi where we were received by members of the Georgian Foreign Ministry in addition to the brothers from the Qatari Embassy, for whom we have all the appreciation and respect for the hospitality, and facilities they provided. Our special thanks goes for His Excellency Mubarak bin Nasser Al Khalifa, Ambassador of the State of Qatar to Georgia.
During the visit, H E Nikoloz, Ambassador of Georgia to Qatar, was instrumental in facilitating interviews with senior officials. Without his help, It would not have been possible for us to achieve our goal of coming to Georgia.
During the visit, we got opportunity to interview Salome Zourabichvili, President of Georgia, who was elected as the first female President of the country in 2018.
Zourabichvili stressed on the strength of the Qatari-Georgian relations and the efforts exerted by the leadership of the two countries to strengthen these relations, and to expand cooperation in economic and tourism sector and increase the volume of trade between the two countries.
The President pointed out that the bilateral relations between the two countries have witnessed a remarkable development in various aspects of cooperation. She added that Qatar was the first Gulf country to establish diplomatic relations with Georgia in 1994, and its embassy was the first Gulf embassy that was opened in Tbilisi- the capital of Georgia.
Qatar and Georgia have signed more than 10 agreements and memoranda of understanding covering many fields of trade, economic, tourism, youth, culture, education and other vital fields, she said.
Zourabichvili added that there are many agreements that are being prepared for signing, including an agreement for the protection of investments and another on technical and economic cooperation between the two countries.
The signing of the agreements will deepen economic cooperation and trade exchange between the two countries, she said.
She also praised the role played by Qatar Airways, which has facilitated communication between the people of both countries and has encouraged trade and tourism with Georgia.
I conducted another exclusive interview with Georgian Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Natela Turnava, who stressed that during the past years, both countries have expanded trade and economic cooperation taking benefit of the tremendous potential in the bilateral relations between the two countries.
She said that the two countries look forward to further cooperation in the fields of tourism and investment.
She expressed her happiness at the significant increase in the number of visitors (citizens and expatriates) from Qatar to Georgia each year. The number of visitors to Georgia from Qatar has grown 25.6 percent till September this year compared to last year.
I availed the opportunity by holding enriching dialogues with the heads of diplomatic missions of both countries, who gave us further explanation of the prospects for future cooperation and the areas in which the two countries are keen to enhance cooperation in the the coming years.
The visit was successful in various aspects as we explored the frameworks of relations and its promising future which is being assured by the governments of the two countries to serve the people of both countries in various fields.
