Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) will soon stretch its operations to Pakistan. This was stated by bank Chairman Ali bin Abdullah bin Thani Al Thani during an executive briefing lunch hosted by him in Doha last week to welcome Balochistan Economic Forum (BEF) President Sardar Shoukat Popalzai. Also present were the QIIB Board members.
Al Thani said that Pakistan offered enormous opportunities in different economic sectors for profitable investment.
He highly appreciated the dynamic support of President General Pervez Musharraf to foreign investors, and said that was why he was launching an Islamic insurance company in the near future.
He expressed the hope the QIIB would also start its operations in Pakistan as Islamic banking were expanding in Pakistan.
The Qatar government had started investing abroad as alternate investments to energy sector, he said.
Briefing the hosts, Sardar Popalzai said that Balochistan province had very attractive environment for the international investors, particularly the cultural background was most suitable for the investors from Islamic countries.
He said that the state of Qatar today attracted world attention because of its forward-looking leadership, favourable economic and political climate and strategic importance.
Qatar had one of the fastest growing economies in the world and by 2012, it would be the largest liquefied natural gas supplier (LNG) in the world, he said.
He said Balochistan's large coastal area was expected to be developed as energy corridor of the region, and Pakistan expected that Qatar could help it to finance its three-billion-dollar plan for import and building a supply chain of LNG, enabling the country to meet the fast approaching shortfall, he said.
Al Thani said that Qatar and Pakistan enjoyed very cordial economic and diplomatic relations and he would multiply his efforts to promote brotherly relations between the two countries.
Presently, the bilateral trade between the two countries is in favour of Qatar. He said that Qatar was fast emerging as one of the growing world markets for consumer and capital goods, services and skills, given the space at which its economy had been galloping.
The expansion is going hand in hand with the extensive development efforts that cover all sectors, including infrastructure, basic industry, real estate, tourism and energy. Pakistan's business community could take advantage of this situation for successful business ventures.
The sharp growth boosted its gross domestic product (GDP) per capita to record level of 38,241 dollars, the highest in the Middle East. With this record, Qatar now ranked as one of the world's wealthiest countries, he said, and promised to support countryside parks for nature lovers in the province of Balochistan.
The BEF President said that trade between Pakistan and Qatar was increasing gradually, and Pakistan was expecting to import gas from Qatar through dolphin pipeline. This project would cost eight billion dollars, adding that 16 percent population of Qatar came from Pakistan and played an important role in its development.
QIIB General Manager Abdulbasit A. Al-Shaibel briefed about the bank's operations and economic situation in Qatar.
The formation of Qatar-Pakistan Economic Co-operation Council was also discussed.
The BEF, since its inception, has played an important role in attracting foreign investments to Balochistan. It has organised seminars and conferences on different economic related topics and issues to familiarise the national and international economic community with opportunities for trade and investments in Balochistan.
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