– to fight COVID-19 pandemic

THE Emir of Qatar, His Royal Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, has committed to providing Guyana with much needed equipment including portable military hospitals and ventilators to help the country’s fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.

This commitment was made on Tuesday, when President Irfaan Ali held discussions with the Qatar Head of State over the telephone. A statement from the Office of the President noted that President Ali discussed several key areas of collaboration and cooperation with the Emir of Qatar.

According to the statement, Qatar’s Emir used the opportunity to express congratulations to President Ali on his inauguration and committed his willingness to assist Guyana.
The other areas identified for collaboration include support for the Agriculture Sector through investments in the Halaal industry, expansion of the housing programme, the strengthening of diplomatic ties between the two countries, and support in other critical sectors including Energy, Oil and Gas, Services and Infrastructure.

Both President Ali and His Royal Highness committed to mobilising technical teams from both countries, immediately following the discussions. The teams will include the Foreign Affairs Ministers of both countries, as well as the Energy Minister from Qatar and Guyana’s Natural Resources Minister and Agriculture Minister.

Following the engagement, the teams will also proceed to design programmes and projects to access resources from the Qatar Fund for Development (QFFD).
According to the Office of the President, the QFFD is a public development institution committed, on behalf of the State of Qatar, to implement external aid projects under Law No. 19 of 2002 and its amendments. It has provided aid to several countries around the world to achieve the international cooperation goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030.

The Qatar Fund for Development’s main goal is to achieve inclusive and sustainable development, by addressing priority issues of education, health and economic empowerment.

The two Heads of State committed to visiting each other to discuss the partnership between the two countries further.