Germany and Qatar eye deeper economic ties

At a Qatar investment conference in Berlin, Germany is hoping for energy investment, while an economic blockade has propelled the small Gulf state to shop for other partners beyond its neighbors.

In the lobby of Berlin’s Maritim Hotel, seven models of football stadiums glow brightly on pedestals. The biggest, Al Bayt Stadium — which in its actual size would hold 60,000 people — is to host FIFA World Cup 2022 matches up to the semifinal stage. Its design is meant to “represent traditional Qatari hospitality,” according to the model’s display description.

“We are aware of the strength of the German economy, and therefore are prepared to make investments of €10 billion [$15 billion] here over the next five years,” said Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Thani, in his opening remarks for the Qatar-Germany Business and Investment Forum.

Qatari investment is set to flow to the manufacturing sector, energy, and Germany’s Mittelstand — the country’s powerful sector of small and mid-sized companies (SMEs). That, he said, would add to the €25 billion worth of Qatari investment already in the country.

Read more: Underinvestment threatens Germany’s midsize companies

Apart from holding the second biggest stake in the country’s biggest lender, Deutsche Bank, Qatari investors also have shareholdings in carmaker Volkswagen, engineering firm Siemens, the Hochtief construction firm and panel maker Solarworld.

But it’s energy investment is a key priority of Chancellor Angela Merkel, especially given that Qatar is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas.

“From my perspective, the energy sector has significant potential for the expansion of our economic ties,” Merkel said in her own opening speech at the event. “Liquid natural gas contributes to the diversification of gas sources, and therefore to the security of supply.”

Qatar’s emir (next to Angela Merkel on the right) has brought a 400-strong delegation to Berlin, including senior government officials and private sector executives, to show Qatar is open for business and wants to invest in Germany.

Supply alternative

On Wednesday, Qatar Petroleum, said it was in talks with Germany’s RWE and rival Uniper about cooperating on a potential terminal for LNG.

For more read the full of article at The Dw