Media Center

Joumanna Bercetche (Bloomberg TV): President Trump was in the region last week. It was the first Lme a US President has paid a visit to Qatar since 2003. How significant was this visit for the Gulf do you think? And also how do you think this

President’s approach to the region differs from his predecessors?

His Excellency: Well I believe that the President’s first trip to the GCC region, visiLng Saudi, Qatar, and UAE has been a great demonstraLon for the potenLal of that region. This sent a very strong message to the enLre world that there is a very high potenLal in that region. This region is flourishing, this region has a lot to do when it comes to contribuLng to the future technology and the revoluLon of arLficial intelligence and the need of course for power. Basically, we have had a great visit and I believe this is equivalent to the rest of the countries in the GCC. During that visit we had wide range of topics that’s being discussed whether it’s on regional security, on the future economic cooperaLon between the two countries and how to untap the potenLal between the two countries. These topics actually have varied whether it’s how to partner in arLficial intelligence, how to partner in energy and how to expand also in being a criLcal and vital part of the supply chain for the United States economy which is the leading economy in the world. I believe this was very much perceived in a posiLve way by the region and of course we know that the policy varies from one administraLon to another. We are glad to see that the Middle East, and GCC in parLcular, is a priority for this administraLon, and we believe that there is a lot of potenLal for both of us in the region and the United States that we can untap in the next few years. And also I think that one of the key elements of the President’s visit is making sure that the situaLon in this region remain stabilized and we have seen what a delicate period that we are going through in that region whether it’s on their talks, on the US talks with Iran, or with the situaLon in Gaza and the changes that happened in Syria. And we are hoping that these kind of engagements will lead us to a point where we can have all these conflicts seXled and hopefully being more focused on the prosperity of the region. 

Joumanna Bercetche (Bloomberg TV): President Trump has been labeled a transacLonal President. He certainly likes to do deals. He has wriXen a book about the art of the deal and he likes things of value, especially if they come free. I want to ask you about the giY of this Boeing jet that Qatar wants to give to use as interim Air Force 1. It’s being met with a lot of controversy back home. What was the purpose of this giY? And is it as some criLcs say, an opportunity for Qatar to gain influence with this administraLon?

His Excellency: Well look actually we have seen that there was a lot of controversy that’s being created out of this, what I call it, an exchange between two countries and basically the relaLonship that we have between Qatar and the United States is a very insLtuLonal relaLonship that witnessed different administraLons, and the insLtuLonal relaLonship remained very strong and at the backbone of this partnership. The plane story is a Ministry of Defense to Department of Defense transacLon which is basically done in full transparency and very legally and it is part of the cooperaLon that we have been always doing together for decades. For example, the airliYing in Afghanistan is something that we have almost 80% of that done by our air forces. The security deployment of the United States during the World Cup to support our efforts was done by the United States and I see it as a normal thing that happens between allies and basically I don’t know why people are thinking about it, that this is considered as a bribery or considered as something that Qatar wants to buy an influence with this administraLon. I don’t see any honestly valid reason for that and I believe that there is a huge issue in misconcepLon or unfortunately some spoilers who are trying to portray Qatar as a country that tries to buy its way. I believe if you look at the track record at least for the last 10 years whenever there is some scoop coming out in the media and trying to put Qatar under a spotlight that Qatar is bribing to get the World Cup or Qatar is bribing the EU Parliament or whatever, unLl like the end Qatar is trying to bribe the Prime Minister of Israel. I'm sure that, you know, it does tell you something that for the last 10 years, none of these cases has stand or had any proof that Qatar has done anything wrong. We are a country that would like to have strong partnership and strong friendship and anything that we provide to any country, it's provided out of respect for this partnership and it's a two ways relaLonship. It's mutually beneficial for Qatar and for the United States and I believe everybody acknowledges this. I think that we need to overcome this stereotype of seeing Qatar as a small Arab naLon because it's gas rich, it cannot find its way without buying it with money. It's really a misconcepLon that hurts a lot not our reputaLon but the reputaLon also of other countries and insLtuLons.

Joumanna Bercetche (Bloomberg TV): Is the controversy worth it though if it means that there's going to be further congressional scruLny of all of Qatar's dealings now with the US?

His Excellency: Well, there is actually nothing that has been done by us under the table or like we are trying to do like a covert operaLon. It's a Ministry of Defense to Department of Defense. There is a proper legal review now conducted between the two departments and nothing has happened yet actually. Now, our intenLon is to have a very clear exchange that the US is in need for to accelerate, you know, a temporary Air Force One. Qatar has the ability to provide this. We stepped up and basically a lot of naLons have giYed the US many things. I am not comparing that to the Statue of Liberty but I don't know if this sounded a liXle bit maybe strange for the US because it's coming from a small Arab naLon. I think that, you know, this has played some way a factor in this but I am hoping that people in the United States and even the poliLcians over there, they look at us as a friend, as a partner, as a reliable partner that we've been always there for the US whenever we were needed whether it's in the war against terror, whether it's in freeing American hostages from all around the world. It's not something that we've been doing to buy an influence but this is a duty on us as a partner, as an ally of the United

States and as there is a duty for the United States towards Qatar.

Joumanna Bercetche (Bloomberg TV): I want to turn to regional geopoliLcs. Yesterday, the Israeli Prime Minister says that Israel is now carrying out operaLons with the purpose of taking over the Gaza Strip. They will carry out an unprecedented aXack on Hamas. That is a quote. The war is clearly entering into a new phase aYer a ceasefire that was negoLated earlier this year. Qatar played a pivotal role in that. It lapsed in March. The death toll conLnues to go up. There's sLll what's thought to be 20 hostages sLll alive in the Gaza Strip. There's a humanitarian crisis going on there. What hope is there now for a lasLng ceasefire,

Your Excellency?

His Excellency: Well, it's unfortunate that we've been seeing the situaLon unfolding in this way and it’s becoming very frustraLng for everyone and especially for us here in Qatar, we've been there from the beginning trying to mediate and trying to get to a deal where it alleviates the suffering of the PalesLnian people in Gaza and freeing the hostages and bringing them back to their family and trying to bring a path that will create a peaceful environment and security for both people. And that's basically what we were aiming. And what I think that the last year and a half now has shown you that the only way forward is through negoLaLons. And unfortunately, that someLmes, you know, or many of the Lmes, these negoLaLons being sabotaged by poliLcal games with a very narrow vision and, you know, it's just being postponed. One of the examples we had, the first deal that freed more than 100 Israeli hostages in November 23, it collapsed in one week. Then we had the second deal that's been based on a framework that's agreed on December 23 and we couldn't announce it or we couldn't finalize it unLl January 25. That states very clearly that this deal should include mulLple phases, that we have to do everything we can to avoid to return to the war and ensuring that all the hostages will be freed and there is a withdrawal from Gaza Strip and there is a clear way forward for the Gaza's people to alleviate their situaLon. This deal has collapsed in 2nd of March and we have seen how the situaLon has been unfolding since then and the blockade on Gaza for now more than 60 days. And we are hearing also some responsible statements about the humanitarian situaLon over there, about, you know, the way of distribuLng these aids and distribuLng food in the form of meals and calculated calories for pre-qualified and pre-screened people. I think all these things that are happening has been unprecedented in our world today and it shouldn't be acceptable for the internaLonal community. Yes, yet we have seen that, you know, unfortunately the Israeli government is carrying it out with impunity. Now, we conLnue our efforts despite everything and every aXempt to sabotage our efforts and try to also blackmail us and, you know, conLnuing aXacking us while we were the only country that's helping together with Egypt and United States and we have just that this is just making us more determined to bring stability to the region, to end the war on Gaza, to free all the hostages and to bring them back to their family and to provide security for both people. The rounds of negoLaLons that took place in Doha in the past couple of weeks unfortunately didn't lead us anywhere yet because there is a fundamental gap between the two parLes which is one party is looking for a parLal deal that might have the possibility to lead to a comprehensive deal and the other party is looking just for one-off deal and to end the war and to get all the hostages out and we couldn't bridge this fundamental gap with whatever proposals we have provided given the past experience of the first deal that it collapsed and basically we are stuck in a situaLon that if this operaLon is starLng is just going to postpone the diplomaLc conclusion of the war which will end only diplomaLcally from our point of view and will just cost us a death toll on the PalesLnian side and also on the hostages side. Just I wanted to add one very important point to this. The delicacy of that situaLon in the region right now is criLcal and basically we have seen that the conLnuaLon of this campaign and this way and this behavior and it's not only in Gaza but Gaza, West Bank, Lebanon, Syria is something becoming unbearable yet you have seen that all of us as governments, as countries we are calling for peace, we are calling for peaceful resoluLons and there is nothing stopping this kind of behavior. That will only add anger to the people in that region. This will add legiLmacy for non-state actors and is just going to fuel the narraLve of extremism and terrorism.

Joumanna Bercetche (Bloomberg TV): In President Trump's speech last week in Riyadh, he talks about the birth of a new Middle East, the economic transformaLon and also the Gulf states playing an increasingly influenLal diplomaLc and mediaLon role and the prospect of regional stability. Can there actually be regional stability in the absence of a soluLon to the PalesLnian and

Israeli conflict that has been going on for decades?

His Excellency: Well, we believe that this conflict is a core for the regional stability, and we hope that there will be a chance someLme soon. It requires a strong leadership, strong leadership from the PalesLnian side, from the Arab side and from the Israeli side because there will never be a deal without a compromise between all the parLes that ensuring that there are condiLons that can be created for the people to coexist together. This region has been for centuries with a beauLful social fabric that has different backgrounds and different ethnicity and different religions. Unfortunately, it's been drained with these ancient wars and proxies that evolved over the last few decades. I cannot recall since I was born that there was a moment of stability in the region when we talk about the overall. We are blessed that the GCC was protected except during the Iraq war. But since we grew up, we grew up on just conflicts aYer another, aYer another.

Joumanna Bercetche (Bloomberg TV): We've got a couple of minutes, but I do want to ask you because you were in Tehran over the weekend. How likely is it that you think we will get to an Iran-U.S. nuclear deal by the end of this year?

His Excellency: I believe there is a posiLve momentum. We had a very good conversaLon with President Trump when he was here. We see him as a President who tried to talk to everyone, which is something that we very much encouraged. Also, he is trying to avoid any conflict or any escalaLon. This determinaLon in itself is showing leadership and poliLcal will. On the other side, on Iran, we have seen and sensed the same posiLvity. Of course, Oman is leading the mediaLon, and we are trying to support their efforts. I have suggested that aYer the visit of President Trump to have a trilateral engagement with the Iranians and our Omani colleagues. We were discussing ideas that can bridge the gaps between the two parLes. We hope that those ideas will work. The last thing that we want in that region is a nuclear race or another round of escalaLon that is next to our countries.

Joumanna Bercetche (Bloomberg TV): Final quesLon on the Qatar economy. We have had the World Cup bump, you could call it. Of course, you have big visions of what you want to achieve in the next few years. What is the plan for the next five years by 2030?

His Excellency: It is a very ambiLous plan. I have a friend who once told me that the World Cup was like an IPO for Qatar. I believe this was, thanks to God, this was a very successful IPO. It has been oversubscribed. We have seen the growth in many sectors aYer that. Basically, Qatar is trying to work on a transformaLon plan where we transform our economy into more being diversified, with a diversified base internally. We have been talking about this for the last 25 years and we have been working toward that objecLve. We are focusing on developing different sectors, whether it is on the manufacturing, on the logisLcs, on the educaLon, on the healthcare, on the tourism and technology. We have seen the technology revoluLon right now that is happening. We have seen that this technology revoluLon is not only happening away in the world, but countries like UAE is leading in arLficial intelligence or Saudi leading in data centers and we are trying to be part of this ecosystem and being a complementary for this region. Basically, we see that the potenLal is huge. The capability is there. Qatar has successfully built global brands in the last few decades. Qatar Airways is one of the main examples when you see that you have a leading airline being nominated number one for the last few years. This is something making us proud and we would like to see more and more brands coming out of Qatar like this.

Joumanna Bercetche (Bloomberg TV): Your Excellency, thank you so much. Thank you.