Ambassador of Italy to Qatar, Pasquale Salzano hailed the successful partnership between Italy and Qatar founded on “mutual trust and teamwork” as he addressed the 73rd Italian National Day celebration at Marsa Malaz Kempinski, The Pearl-Doha. “The two Governments place high confidence in our bilateral cooperation and have a continuous high-level political dialogue, enabling a truly strategic partnership across all sectors: institutional cooperation, business, defence, education and culture, sport and well being,” said Salzano. Salzano underlined that on the multilateral level, the two countries “share concern for regional crisis as well as efforts to facilitate peaceful solutions through dialogue in the framework of international organizations and international law”. On the economic front, he described bilateral ties as “very positive” with a marked increase in trade volume and as more Italian companies become major players in various projects in Qatar.
“Bilateral trade reached 2.6 billion Euros in 2018, with a 21% increase from the previous year. Italian companies are well positioned in the Qatari market and involved in major projects for the World Cup 2022 such as the Doha Metro and Al Bayt stadium,” he said.Salzano lauded Qatar’s friendly investment climate for Italian and other foreign businesses as a result of major steps taken and reforms adopted by the country.
“We also find that Italian entrepreneurs are more eager to explore opportunities in Qatar thanks to the major reforms successfully adopted to make the local business environment more friendly and dynamic for foreign investors. Indeed, Qatar has made remarkable steps in this regard, especially reforming the labour market as part of its fruitful cooperation with the International Labour Organization. The Italian Government acknowledges these significant achievements and encourages to continue working in this direction,” he said. He added the two countries are now preparing for the Fifth Joint Economic Commission to be held later this year in order “to take forward our economic cooperation, towards more ambitious goals”.
With regard to cooperation in the defence sector, he stressed Italy’s strong commitment not only to foster technology transfer, but also to the development of human resources as hundreds of personnel from the Qatari Air Force and Navy are being trained in Italy and that in the coming weeks the first four Qatari female pilots will graduate in Milan. Looking towards the future, Salzano is optimistic of the huge potential to further expand cooperation particularly in the fields of art and culture, education and research, health and sport.“So far our joint initiatives have often involved artists from all the countries in the region, reaffirming the vision that art and culture belong to all humankind, they have no boundaries and political division should not restrain them. We plan to continue on this path and to increase and diversify our projects working closely with Qatari institutions and involving new actors, such the Italian cultural association “Dante Alighieri”, which recently started its activities also in Doha,” he added.
Salzano also lauded Qatar’s focus on encouraging sport practice and hosting major sport events such as the upcoming World Athletics Championships in September, during which the Italian Federation of Athletics will open “Casa Atletica” – a special area dedicated to Italian sport traditions, design, food and culture with an engaging program of activities.