Qatar Financial Center aims to attract $ 25 billion in foreign investment by 2022 with the end of the Gulf rupture

Qatar’s financial center is trying to attract $ 25 billion in foreign direct investment flows by 2022, its CEO Yousuf Al-Jaida told CNBC in an exclusive interview on Wednesday.

It comes a week after Saudi Arabia re-established diplomatic ties with neighboring Qatar, ending more than three years of blockade against the small gas-rich nation.

Reconciliation means a stronger and stronger Gulf Cooperation Council, Al-Jaida said.

“I think the impact will be positive on trade, which means that countries will work closely with each other,” he added.

Saudi Arabia, along with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt, sealed the land, sea and air borders with Qatar in 2017, after accusing Doha of links to terrorism. Qatar has denied the allegations.

Thawing tensions – just weeks before the end of President Donald Trump’s term in the White House – is a major change in the region’s policy.

Doha competes with global financial centers in the region, including Dubai in the United Arab Emirates and Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia.

Dubai, one of the transport and tourism hubs in the region, is facing a new competition in Riyadh.

Saudi Arabia is trying to attract multinational companies to the capital as part of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s ambitious Vision 2030 project to diversify the kingdom’s economy.

Al-Jaida said Doha’s advantage over its rivals is boosting the development of Islamic finance and fintech, as well as financial services in general.

The financial center’s ambitious FDI target – along with the goal of creating 10,000 new jobs and more than 1,000 companies by 2022 – will gain momentum from GCC detention, he said.

“From a QFC perspective, multinational corporations rely heavily on the entire GCC and will mean more liberal travel, more market access. It will mean more foreign direct investment for Doha. So we are very optimistic about that,” he said. said Al-Jaida.

The six-nation GCC is a political, economic and social alliance that includes Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman and Qatar.

According to the World Bank, Qatar’s economy is expected to grow by 3% in 2021 and is the best of the GCC countries.

Qatar, one of the richest countries per capita in the world, has focused on its sport. The country is set to host the 2022 World Cup and has submitted a request to the International Olympic Committee to join the “ongoing dialogue” on the possible hosting of the 2032 Games.

Ties between Gulf neighbors are deepening, and the blockade has left a gap that has affected trade in the GCC.

According to the Brookings Institution, flights between Qatar and its Gulf neighbors totaled 70 a day before the crash. The airline sector, which has been hit hard by the global pandemic, will benefit significantly from cooling tensions.

Before the blockade, trade flows between Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates were in the billions, and in the millions with Bahrain, the think tank said.

Al-Jaida told CNBC that further efforts are needed to build trust between Qatar and its Gulf and Egyptian neighbors, but “this is behind us and we are working for a better future for the entire region, so everyone is optimistic. “.