The Shura Council State of Qatar

The Shura Council held its regular weekly session at Tamim bin Hamad Hall on Monday under the chairmanship of HE Speaker of the Shura Council Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim.

The council took note of the request for public discussion submitted by a host of Their Excellencies members of the council on supporting the national and foreign investment.

HE Speaker of the Shura Council Hassan bin Abdullah Al Ghanim highlighted that investment is a core pillar to advance national economy, noting the interest of the country's wise leadership in this field as stipulated in article (28) of the constitution, which underscored that the state shall ensure freedom of economic activity based on social justice and balanced cooperation between public and private activities to further achieve economic and social development, as well as increase production.

The Qatar National Vision 2030 vowed in its third pillar to develop a diversified and competitive national economy capable of meeting the current and future needs of citizens, and ensuring a high standard of living, His Excellency pointed out.

His Excellency highlighted some impediments facing the investment sector that should be handled through exploring appropriate solutions in implementation of the directives of the wise leadership represented by HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, underscoring the council's keenness to strengthen the economic development and drawing investment, stemming from its role as the state's legislative authority.

For their part, Their Excellencies members of the council underlined the interest of the state's wise leadership in fostering investment, in pursuit of achieving economic development through enacting laws that encourage investment and establish institutions to help support the economic diversification, in addition to upgrading small and medium-sized enterprises and providing the facilitations that attract investment and encourage investors to lend impetus to the development in the state.

Members of the Shura Council highlighted a range of impediments that face the investment sector and require appropriate and rapid solutions, such as unclear procedures, complexity of licensing procedures, lack of unification, complexities of using electronic services, overlapping requirements and standards for licensing, difficulties related to investment sites and attracting professional manpower, problems in some legislation related to the labor market, as well as rise in some government fees, et al.

In their remarks before the council, the members underscored the importance of optimizing labor market and investment-related laws and legislation to ensure a stable and rewarding environment, support startups, and streamline the administrative and financial procedures.

Upon conclusion of the discussions, the council decided to refer the request of public discussion to the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee for further perusal and submission of its report accordingly.

Additionally, the council approved the request of extending the Financial and Economic Affairs Committee's works to study the draft law on job localization in the private sector.

The session discussed its delegation's participation in the 14th plenary session of the Asian Parliamentary Association (APA), and its associated meetings, held in Azerbaijan in February 2024, in addition to the report of its delegation's participation in the Fourth Counter-Terrorism Coordination Meeting, convened in Vienna in October 2023.

In conclusion, HE the Speaker of the Shura Council briefed the council on the participation of the Council's delegation under his chairmanship in the 36th conference of the Arab Inter-Parliamentary Union (AIPU), held in Algeria on Sunday, noting the topics and issues that were of interest to the conference.