ROME: Trade volume between Qatar and Italy reached €2.3bn in 2015, Italian ambassador Guido de Sanctis has said. The ambassador explained that last year, Italian exports, comprised mostly machinery, reached €1bn, while Qatari exports, largely liquefied natural gas (LNG) amounted to €1.3bn. “Since the past three years, our exports have remained stable at around €1bn because the main product we export is machinery, which has a high demand in Qatar since 2007,” he said.
The rise in machinery exports in 2007, the ambassador told Gulf Times earlier, was at the height of Qatar’s “industrialisation phase” in the oil and gas sector where Italy’s exports amounted to €1.621bn or a 61.9% jump from 2006.
Machinery exports, de Sanctis noted, further improved in the previous years due to enormous government spending on infrastructure and construction work for 2022 FIFA World Cup preparations and the Qatar National Vision 2030. While trade volume between the two countries remains in Qatar’s favour, de Sanctis said the amount of Qatari LNG exports to Italy has slightly decreased compared to 2009.
“In the first year, when our gas terminal started in 2009, we imported €2.4bn worth of LNG from Qatar, but then for some reason we didn’t need so much gas, so the import of gas has gone down a bit,” he said. De Sanctis said the embassy has also recorded growth in the export of ceramic products, shoes, and other leather products.
“However, it is difficult for us to measure in terms of amount the quantity of shoes and other fashion-related apparel being brought into the country by Qatari tourists coming from Italy,” he said. Asked about the export of helicopters to Qatar, de Sanctis said: “Helicopters are not under defence and are considered commercial products, but our exports of helicopters have paved the way for the entry of what we call the ‘high-technology’ sector into Qatar.”
“In the field of defence, Italy and Qatar have a lot of joint-training exercises with some Italians who are based here, or with Qatari missions or groups that go to Italy. This is something that goes out of bilateral trade but it provides an idea of the level of mutual trust that we have reached. Military is one of the most important things that a country can export,” said de Sanctis.
According to trade commissioner Andrea Ferrari of the Italian Trade Agency in Doha, the ITA is regularly conducting business to business (B2B) meetings between Italian companies and their Qatari counterparts. He said the meetings, aimed at increasing investment opportunities between the two sides, are being organised by the ITA, in cooperation with the Italian embassy and the Italian Chamber of Commerce in Qatar, led by its chairperson, Palma Libotte.
De Sanctis said aside from B2B meetings, economic missions and state visits are important exercises to strengthen economic and bilateral relations. “Next year, it is Qatar’s turn to go to Italy and co-chair the joint-commission, and we hope that we could do it in the first half of next year,” he added.
