Purchase OBG Publications

Qatar is a major player in the Middle Eastern and inter¬national media industries, thanks in large part to its status as the home of news channel Al Jazeera, which, since its inception two decades ago, has developed into a global network, covering events in the Middle East and worldwide in multiple languages. The country is also an important regional advertising market, particularly in regard to newspaper spend, and is emerging as a notable supporter of international cinema.

As part of its strategy to promote diversified economic development, Qatar has worked hard to establish itself as a regional centre for sports. Over the past 20 years a surge of investment in infrastructure has paid off as international associations have come to recognise the country’s potential in the athletics arena. Undoubtedly, the biggest success in this regard was in 2010, when Qatar was awarded the right to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Despite the diplomatic tensions in the Gulf and the three-year drop in global energy prices, long-term developments associated with the 2022 World Cup plans have not been directly impacted, and authorities have insisted that spending remains unaffected. The country’s authorities are firmly focused on achieving long-term social devel¬opment goals in line with Qatar National Vision 2030. Meanwhile, businesses and investment groups have entered into numerous partnerships with international athletics entities, further underlining the country’s commitment to develop into an interna¬tional centre for sports, and encouraging its citizens to engage in active and healthy lifestyles.

Since taking its first steps towards establishing a primary health care system and standardised health care services in 1954, Qatar has invested heavily in cultivating a highly developed standard of care for the 2.4m nationals and expatriates who call the country home. Like every country in the region, the state faces economic challenges connected to the drop in international oil and gas prices; however, the Qatari government remains committed to health care development as a fundamental objective of Qatar National Vision 2030. To meet the country’s rising demand for health care in a period of constrained government spending, the private sector is increasingly being engaged to share the financial burden and offset government expenditure. This chapter contains an interview with Hanan Mohamed Al Kuwari, Minister of Public Health.

Home to an array of local and international schools and curricula, as well as a burgeoning university scene, Qatar hosts numerous branches of foreign tertiary education institutions, many of which are in partnership with Qatar Foundation. Although the fall in international oil prices has affected the sec¬tor, leading to cuts in university funding, university enrolment has risen strongly in recent years. The country is rapidly developing its university-based research capabilities, in addition to fields like voca¬tional and technical education. This chapter contains an interview with Hamad Al Ibrahim, Executive Vice-President, Qatar Foundation Research and Development, and Chairman, Qatar Science & Technology Park; and a roundtable discussion with Hassan Al Derham, President, Qatar University, and Ahmad Hasnah, President, Hamad bin Khalifa University.

Qatar’s tourism sector is gearing up for expansion in anticipation of a major influx of tourists for the six-week 2022 FIFA World Cup, with the event expected to attract close to 1m visitors. In the build-up to the tournament, investment is being channelled into the development of tourism-related infrastructure to accommodate visitor traffic, and provide avenues of entertainment and sightseeing. In 2016, following the slump in global oil prices, the government identified tourism as one of several priority sectors to be expanded in pursuit of diver¬sification, and a high-level taskforce was created to drive its growth. The strategy revision process began in April 2017, and the economic blockade led by Saudi Arabia and several other Arab nations imposed in June 2017 gave it new impetus and momentum. This chapter contains an interview with Hassan Al Ibrahim, Acting Chairman, Qatar Tourism Authority; and Sohair Wastawy, Executive Director of Qatar National Library.

Qatar boasts a well-developed telecoms market, with high levels of internet use and smart¬phone ownership among the populace, as well as fast mobile and fibre-based internet connection speeds. The larger of the country’s two main telecoms operators has also emerged as a major force in the regional and international mobile telecoms market. The IT sector is less developed in some respects, with industry observers noting comparatively low penetration rates, particularly in the small and medi¬um-sized enterprise segment. However, some fields, such as e-governance, are highly advanced, and a shift towards the use of the cloud and software-as-a-service is under way in the corporate sector. There are also efforts to develop the start-up scene, and Qatar is emerging as an important centre for computing-fo¬cused research, with several applied research projects already having been successfully commercialised. This chapter contains an interview with Ahmad Mohamed Al Kuwari, CEO, MEEZA.