– An official working session was held before noon today between the State of Qatar under HE the Governor of Qatar Central Bank Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud Al Thani and the People’s Republic of China under President of the People’s Bank of China (Central Bank) Zhou Xiaochuan.
The session was attended on the Qatari side by Qatar’s Ambassador in Beijing HE Sultan bin Salmeen Al Mansouri and chief executive officers of a number of Qatari banks, Qatar Financial Centre Regulatory Authority, Qatar Financial Markets Authority, in addition to a number of Qatar Central Bank’s ranking officials. On the Chinese side, the session was attended by Yau Yudong, Deputy Director General of Monetary Policy Department – People’s Bank of China, in addition to a number of the Bank’s officials. During the session, HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud Al Thani underlined the importance of relations between the State of Qatar and the People’s Republic of China, especially in financial and investment sectors.
HE Sheikh Abdullah stressed the need to revitalize the memorandum of understanding on the exchange of expertise and information in areas of concern to central banks, signed in Doha in 2012. For his part, the President of the People’s Bank of China praised relations between the State of Qatar and the People’s Republic of China in all fields, especially financial and investment sectors, referring to his country’s attention to developing bilateral relations between the two countries.
After the session, HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Saud Al Thani and President of the People’s Bank of China signed a renewal of the agreement on the investment of Chinese currency and investment tools for two years. The agreement was signed in Doha in 2012. On the occasion, the Governor of Qatar Central Bank and President of the People’s Bank of China exchanged memorial souvenirs. The State of Qatar and the People’s Republic of China are linked with diplomatic relations since 1988. Since then, the two countries signed a number of bilateral agreement foremost of which were: An agreement on trade in 1993, an agreement on the development and protection of investment between the two governments in 1999 and an agreement on the sales and purchase of Liquefied Natural Gas signed between Qatargas and China National Offshore Oil Corporation (CNOOC) in 2008.
Trade exchange between the two countries reached USD 11.5 billion in 2013 increasing by 24.2 per cent compared to 2012, with Qatari experts hitting USD 8.8 billion while Qatari imports from China reached USD 2.7 billion. Liquefied Natural Gas constitutes most of the Qatari exports to China while Qatari imports from china include building and construction raw materials and electronics.
Source : Qatar News Agency
