DOHA: The volume of US exports to Qatar in 2014 crossed the $5bn mark, which stood at $4.95bn (QR18.02bn) in 2013, the US Ambassador to Qatar Dana Shell Smith told at a press conference here the other day.
The exact value of total US exports to Qatar for the full year of 2014 was not available, however, the value of total goods exported to Qatar between January and November, 2014 stood at $4.96bn, according to online data available at the United States Census Bureau.
While the value of imports of goods from Qatar to US during the first 11 months of the same year (January-November) reached at $1.51bn, with a trade balance of $3.45bn, which was highly lopsided in favour of the world’s largest economy.
“The value of US exports to Qatar last year (2014) exceeded the previous year’s $5bn level, which is a huge number for such a small place like Qatar,” said Smith, adding “We expect the bilateral ties, including economic relations to strengthen further in the years to come.”
The US envoy while addressing a press meeting held to announce the launch of “USA Week Qatar”, said: “The United States and Qatar share a very deep and wide relationship in different fields, including trade and investments, education, construction, technology and arts and culture.”
Explaining the extent of Qatar-US bilateral relations, she said that one can have an understanding about the depth of our relationship with Qatar by just looking around the country.
“For instance just look at the number of US universities in the Education City, and the Museum of Islamic Art, which was designed by an American architect, and many other activities in the country,” Smith highlighted.
“Today we are announcing to celebrate the business relationship through the USA Week Qatar, and I am here to extend my support for the amazing event, which is not only important to Qatar but extremely important to the US to celebrate this strong relationship,” she said.
She said that nearly 1,200 Qatari students are currently studying in the US. On the business front, Qatar is a long time investor in the US and a lot of local companies and individuals are exploring opportunities for investments in the US.
The envoy, who agreed to take one question from the media, said that she had no clue how the falling prices of oil will have an impact on the bilateral trade relationships.
“I am not an economist to tell you how the falling prices of oil is going to impact our trade relations, but what I can tell you is that we have so many companies here in Qatar doing business in different sectors of the economy, including infrastructure, fast-food restaurant brands and host of other companies. And I don’t foresee any problems. We are chugging ahead just like Qatar is doing in this regard,” she said.
Smith added that American companies are associated in implementing Qatar’s massive and ambitious projects. “I am happy to say that we are doing well because I personally believe that our companies bring the best value and delivering the most reliable work with best quality.”
