Dmitry Dogadkin
The Russian Federation celebrates the Russia Day on June 12th every year.
This National day marks our most recent achievements as well as history of our nation, spanning for over a millennium, and the legacy that the Russian people have left behind over all these years, be it fine arts masterpieces or scientific discoveries.
One of the strengths of our country is an independent and proactive foreign policy, which helps us promote just international order, maintain strong ties with our partners and combine efforts in solving international and regional issues. Russia and Middle East countries have strong long-standing political, economic and cultural bonds based on mutual respect of each other’s interests and similar vision of international and regional developments. The Middle East has always had a special place in Russian foreign policy.
We are pleased to note that in the recent years our relations with Qatar have seen a significant progress, and we aim to bring bilateral cooperation to an even higher level. Partnership between Russia and Qatar expands in all directions. Our approaches to majority of international and regional issues are close or coincide, which makes our political dialogue an effective basis for our partnership. The leadership of the two countries maintain regular political contacts. For the past year a telephone conversation between H.E. the President Vladimir Putin and H.H. the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani took place, H.E. the Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani visited Moscow, where he held negotiations with President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, Sergei Lavrov participated in the online format in Doha Forum, the Special Presidential Representative for the Middle East and Africa, Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanova visited Qatar.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the leadership of the State of Qatar for their firm and balanced stance on the Ukraine conflict, as well as for non-compliance with the unlawful anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the collective West. Despite the pressure exerted on it by the West, Qatar holds a wise position on this matter.
We highly appreciate the mediation efforts of the State of Qatar to reunite families separated by the Ukraine conflict. 10 Russian families reunited as a result of Qatari mediation efforts have recently visited Doha to take part in a special rehabilitation program. Future cooperation in this field and other humanitarian issues were discussed by Russian Federation Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova and Minister of State for International Cooperation Lolwah Al-Khater during their meeting in Doha in April. Joint work in this direction will continue.
Russia and Qatar share the pain of this year’s gravest catastrophe, which is the war on Gaza. From the first days of the crisis Russia has called for the immediate cessation of hostilities in both the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. The war on Gaza which has led to immeasurable civilian suffering has once again shown that Russia and Arab world hold similar approaches to the necessity of a fair and just solution to the Palestinian problem. We have consistently called for a two-state solution with the creation of an independent Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza has become a clear example of the policy of double standards espoused by the West, which, guided by its own interests, pays great attention to some issues while turning a blind eye to some others. Russia’s approach differs from the hypocritical position of Western countries, for which the suffering of the Palestinians is not a reason enough to put pressure on their Israeli allies. Instead, the US is trying to put pressure on Qatar, which does the best it can as a mediator to ensure that the peace negotiations go through and succeed. Russia highly appreciates Qatar’s mediating role.
In recent years the humanitarian cooperation between Russia and Qatar has grown stronger. In this regard we have to mention some recent joint events. A Qatari delegation visited Sochi for the World Youth Festival. Russian students took part in Doha International Book Fair. The Mariinsky Theater has toured Qatar with great acclaim. A delegation from Russia participated in Doha Conference for Interfaith Dialogue, while a Qatari delegation took part in International Economic Forum “Russia – Islamic World: KazanForum”.
We are grateful to the State of Qatar for providing such excellent living and working conditions for the Russian Diaspora which is seeing a steady growth. We note with pleasure the increasing attention that Qataris pay to Russia as a destination for tourism. At the same time, the number of Russian tourists visiting Qatar has also been increasing. We expect Russian tour operators and tourism council to participate in the upcoming Qatar Travel Mart. The horizons for partnership between Russia Qatar in the field of tourism are very promising indeed.
Qatar remains the largest Arab investor in the Russian economy. Both countries maintain coordination on the gas market related issues through GECF. We see significant potential for increasing our trade turnover. Areas such as agriculture and logistics have much potential for growth. We are ready to join forces with our Qatari partners to take economic relations to a higher level.
