The Middle East

Thriving on the back of an expanding economy and surging population growth, Qatar’s retail sector is now set for further expansion. With a string of giant malls inching towards completion and existing stores undergoing refitting and refurbishing, the country looks set to establish itself as a major regional retail centre. Location will be a major factor in competition, with transport links such...

Known throughout the world as the home of Al Jazeera and of the Doha Centre for Media Freedom (DCMF), a local watchdog with a global reach, Qatar has developed a well-established and far-reaching role on the stage of international media. The domestic market, made up of traditional outfits in print, radio and television, as well as a burgeoning online segment, is also thriving. Both at home and...

Building on the success of the 2006 Asian Games, Qatar has made the development of sports a priority, a move that it has supported with significant investments, which bore fruits in 2010 when the country was awarded the status of host for the FIFA World Cup in 2022. On a wider scale, sport has become a driver of growth in many other areas of Qatar’s economy, as upgrades of infrastructure and...

Qatar’s health care sector is undergoing vigorous change, for both good and bad reasons. The good news is that Qataris are living longer. The bad is that more are living with lifestyle-related chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer. To meet this challenge, the government has been making sizeable investments in health care: Qatar now spends more per capita on health than any...

As part of a long-term strategy to diversify away from dependency on hydrocarbons and move towards a more knowledge-based economy, Qatar has placed considerable importance on education and training. Due to the fact that the Foreign Investment Law exempts the education sector from the requirement to have a local Qatari partner or sponsor, the opportunities for foreign investment and partnerships...

As a strategic priority for national development, the tourism sector is showing promise, and visitor numbers, particularly from the GCC, are on the rise. Business travellers are the mainstay of the sector, though Qatar’s growing status as a sports and shopping destination is also enhancing long-term potential, while a growing regional cruise market and a new port in Doha are raising interest and...