Qatar's Flourish, 1995-2013 PDF

Qatar’s Flourish, 1995- 2013 The Era of Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al- Thani Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa - Background  Born in 1952 and raised in Qatar schools until secondary school  Schooled at Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst (Great Britain), and graduated in 1971  Became leaders of Qatar’s mil...

Qatar’s Flourish, 1995- 2013 The Era of Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al- Thani Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa - Background  Born in 1952 and raised in Qatar schools until secondary school  Schooled at Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst (Great Britain), and graduated in 1971  Became leaders of Qatar’s military forces and later Minister of Defense.  31 May 1977: became the Heir  Was also the Head of the Higher Council of Youth (1979-1995), and President of the Higher Council of Planning.  Led Qatar during time of great flourish and prosperity  Wealth becomes the source of development and also population rise. Policy: Democratization, Security, Development, Prosperity  Sheikh Hamad recognized that the building of a modern state must be based on democratization.  Democratization must be gradual and in tune with pace of economic and political development  Qatar’s educated must put in leading positions  Qatar’s population rise: ½ million residents in 1997  Resolution of border disputes with neighbors by this time  Removal of censorship on media  Development of new media technology to give citizens a chance to express themselves freely  Al-Jazeera, 1996  Qatari TV channel, 1998  All this won Qatar a new place of recognition in the international media  Constitutional Development  Establishment of the Constitutional Assembly in 1997  Goals: promotion of democracy and human rights  Elections to the Majlis Baladi (Municipal Council) in March 1999  Direct election of representative to the Majlis Baladi  Women voted along with men.  Establishment of new Planning Council to supervise building and development  In 1999, decree issued to draft a Constitution for Qatar to meet the country’s 21st century needs for democracy and development.  Created Majlis Niabi al-Muntakhib (Council of Elected Delegates) to promote democracy  Referendum for the ratification of the constitution, 29 April 2003  Won public consensus on the constitution  The Emir had it published in the newspapers, 8 July 2004  Constitution went into effect 8 June 2005  Aspects of the Constitution  Represented Qatar’s democratization  3 branches of government and separation of powers  Executive, Legislative, Judiciary  Rights and freedoms and political participation: rights and freedoms of candidacy, suffrage, assembly.  Government posts filled by election and not appointment  Based on principle of popular sovereignty (power comes from the will of the people)  Establishment of the Constitutional High Court as independent of other branches of government, 2008. Economic Development: Planning and Finance  Establishment of High Council for Planning  Plan growth and development in various sectors  Collect and manage information on investment and workers  Reduce dependence on petrol and gas via new investment.  Establishment of the Financial Center of Qatar,  To aid the work of High Council for Planning  To protect the world’s fastest growing economy (Qatar’s economy)  $145 billion investment in oil and non-oil sectors  Development of petrol and gas industry thanks to wise state investment  Cooperation with and a policy of transparency towards countries buying oil from Qatar  Qatar has second largest gas field in the world  Gas has become a prime pillar of Qatar’s economy Economic Development: Gas  Qatar has second largest gas field in the world  Gas has become a prime pillar of Qatar’s economy  Qatar has the largest source of Liquified Natural Gas (LNG)  LNG production levels became 77 million tons/year and exported to the world  This comes from the Northern Field  New markets for gas export opened. The first Qatari barrel to be exported was in 1997 to Japan.  Building of the first station to liquify gas: OUREKS, 2003  Also LULU station built in 2011, which became the largest station for liquifying gas.  Establishement of Madina Ras Lifan al-Sinaia (Supreme City for Industrial Arts), which liquefied gas  Qatar Liquid Gas Company Economic Development: other points  Qatar’s investment in industry was $16 billion (from Qatar’s profits coming from petrol and gas and foreign investment)  Establishment of petro-chemical industry  Establishment of the biggest aluminum plant in the world in the north: Montaqua Amsaieed.  Since 2000, Qatar’s economy has been the fastest growing in the world.  Since 2000, Qatar began to reduce its dependence on direct foreign investment (outside of the petrol and gas sectors)  Qatar’s financial sector amounted to QR 92 billion in 2004 and QR 694 billion in 2011.  Social Development: Education  Emir Hamad’s education policy: reaching a “new level of education!”  Allocated a huge budget for education to raise educated experts for Qatar’s growth  Education became the fastest growing sector.  Introduction of compulsory education for all until age of 20.  English taught from the first class.  Since 2004 (and part of Vision 2030): Opening of secondary schools and transformation of general schools into independent schools.  Qatar Education Foundation and Sciences of Social Growth and Heritage preservation, est. 1995  Focus on education, scientific research, and social growth  Education City, est. 2003  Attracted famous global schools to Qatar to give Qataris the best higher education  Weill Cornell Medical school, Texas A.M. for engineering, Virginia Commonwealth for Art and Design, Carnegie Mellon for computers and business, Georgetown School of Foreign Service for diplomacy, etc.  Higher Council of Education, est. 2002.  Responsible for education policy, its planning and execution  Responsible for supplying country with educational expertise Social Development: other points  Higher Council for Family Affairs, est. 1998  To study problems facing family and propose solutions  Health Care Foundation, est. 2012  To provide Qatar with highest quality of health care.  To supervise health care.  House of Social Development  Dedication to Human Rights  National Bureau for Human rights est. 2002.  Dedication to fighting against human trafficking.  Sport and Health Clubs in all places  Qatar to become the only country in the world to have a Sports Day.  Preparing to host World Cup (football tournament) in 2022. Social Development: other points  National Council for Culture and Heritage  Support the development of culture through creativity (e.g. literature)  Museum of Islamic Arts est., which put Qatar on the global map for museums  Qatar Tourism Authority est.  Dedicated to building a tourist sector and infrastructure for this, e.g. airport, Qatar Rail (being built since 2012) Foreign Affairs  Foreign policy under Emir Hamad bin Khalifa  Make Qatar present in Arab world and global politics  Promote independence, security, prosperity for Qatar and the larger region  Emir Hamad’s speech before the Majlis Al-Shoura, 2005 outlined the tenets of his foreign policy  support Arab and Islamic affairs  openness to all cultures  dedication to promotion of Human Rights  Peaceful solution to state conflicts: Qatar to serve as an arbitration powers in global disputes  Collaborate with the United Nations in international affairs  Respect international law  Priority in foreign policy: support the GCC  Foreign Affairs (continued)  Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)  Dedication to cooperation for mutual security, e.g. on border disputes with Saudi Arabia and the Emirates  In 2001, UN High Court of Justice settles dispute between Bahrain and Qatar  Establishment of a bridge to connect the two countries over land.  Policy of support for the Arab and Islamic cause  Qatar participates in promoting diplomatic solutions to conflicts in Gaza (Palestine) and Iraq  Engagement in solving the Darfur dispute (Sudan)  The Lebanon dispute ended with the signing of the Doha Agreement, 2008.  Qatar presided over the conflict between Somalian tribes, 1997  Presided over dispute between Somalia and Eretria, 1998  Its role as a mediator and its inputs helped to resolve these conflicts.  Qatar participated in the global conference for peace in Bosnia, 1996  Fund (Sunduq) for Growth est. 2002  To support economic growth in other Arab and Islamic countries. Foreign Affairs (continued)  Relations with the USA  Agreements for security and military  USA able to use two military bases: al-Silia and al-Adid as a substitute for its central base when relations between USA and Saudi Arabia were bad. Islam  Emir Hamad bin Khalifa presided over Islamic Council, 2000-2003  Fanar, Islamic Cultural Center, est. 2008  To promote Dawa in Qatar  Teach Arabic to foreigners