Good evening ladies and gentlemen,
First of all I would like to thank the US Chamber of Commerce and Qatar's Business Council for hosting this important event, and I would like thank my dear friend and colleague, the Secretary of State, Secretary Tillerson, for taking the time to joint us at this event.
This year we are celebrating the 45th anniversary of the partnership created between Qatar and the United States of America. Tomorrow is a big day, hosted at the State Department, for both countries hosting the Qatar-US Strategic Dialogue. This strategic dialogue will take place for the first time and we are looking forward to the talks we are going to have with our counterparts Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense and the rest of the cabinet members who are going to attend. We have come from Qatar with the desire and determination to further develop this partnership.
We are not only going to talk about security and defense, and other hard topics, as the business element of this relationship is critical. We have a well-established business relationship between both nations. There are hundreds of American companies invested in Qatar, I'm sure some of them are among us today, and others are looking for opportunities there, which we welcome. The Qatari investments in the United States' economy is not only Qatar Investment Authority investments, which is around $45 billion, but there are many Qatari entities investing in the United States' economy that exceeds $100 billion, thanks to the trust we have built throughout the years of this partnership.
We are looking forward to seeing this partnership grow and to the next dialogue we have together between Qatar and the United States. Also, we want to celebrate the progress we have achieved in this year.
I would like to thank everyone for attending this event. I would also like to thank you, Mr. Tom, for hosting this event, and Ambassador Anne for these kind words.
Thank you very much.