Qatar's Flourish, 1995-2013 PDF

Qatar’s Flourish, 19952013 The Era of Emir Hamad bin Khalifa alThani 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 for...

Qatar’s Flourish, 19952013 The Era of Emir Hamad bin Khalifa alThani 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   Rights and freedoms and political participation: rights and freedoms of candidacy, suffrage, assembly.    Executive, Legislative, Judiciary 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