Ali Ghanem Al-Hajri, Qatar's General Consul in Guangzhou. (Provided to Newsgd.com)
Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani is scheduled to visit China on January 30th and 31st. Recently, In an exclusive interview with Newsgd.com, Ali Ghanem Al-Hajri, Qatar's Consul General in Guangzhou, revealed that because of 5 new international shipping routes, the cooperation between Qatar and China, especially between Qatar and Guangdong surged in 2018.
One of the most successful example of the Belt and Road Initiative
Ali proudly put forward that Qatar is one of the most successful example of the Belt and Road Initiative. Qatar was the third country to join the Belt and Road Initiative and the second country to be a shareholder of the Asian Infrastructure Development Bank.
According to Ali, thanks to 5 new international shipping routes launched over the past two years, the trade volume between Qatar and China tripled in 2018, and one of the routes starts in Guangzhou Port. Before the launch of the new routes, ships carrying on goods between China and Qatar had to transfer in Singapore or Malaysia, which took more time and cost.
Ali also indicated that the cooperation between Qatar and China lies in infrastructure projects. Besides airports and ports, Chinese companies have been operating about 90% of all projects for the 2020 World Cup. This has influenced Qatar is to consider Chinese goods to be of high quality, and Chinese companies of high efficiency.