KARACHI: The celebrations held on Thursday to celebrate Qatar’s national day reaffirmed the country’s stance that it had evolved into a modern state with strong economic, political and cultural ties with the world.

Despite the political and diplomatic crisis Qatar had faced, Consul General of Qatar Mishal M. Al Ansari shared how the state had become “economically invulnerable”.

“In 1878, Sheikh Jassim bin Mohammed Al Thani set up the pillars of the modern state of Qatar and today Qatar’s economic invulnerability has been boosted by bonds with allies that are stronger than ever before.”

He shared details of Qatar’s economic achievements, how it ranked first in capital flows, politically and legislatively was developing and had a record low unemployment rate.

“We rank first in the region with regards to higher education, humanitarian affairs, global peace index and human development index.”

Exports have also increased due to significant improvement in the public budget, he explained. “Qatar’s economic growth rate is expected to reach 2.8 per cent in 2018 and will rise to over three per cent in the following years. Factories operating in the state have increased tremendously and have managed to achieve a great deal of self-sufficiency too.”

There were many stalls and exhibits at the celebrations that showcased the areas in which Qatar is making a mark internationally.

One such area is of jewellery. Centuries of trading with India, China and other distant lands has inspired jewellery designing in Qatar; spectacular headdresses, gold belts and heavy necklaces are just some of the designs available.

It was also shared that Qatari children have the right to education from the ages of 6-14 in public schools and 98pc of children are enrolled in school. However, there exists a disparity between boys and girls as only 65pc of girls continue to secondary school as opposed to 96pc boys.

Qatar is also gearing up to host the greatest football tournament in the world — Fifa 2022. The world is waiting and it was shared that preparations are under way and Qatar will deliver on all fronts once the event begins.

CG Al Ansari also said that the Qatari leadership held Pakistan in great esteem and would like to have increased the concentration of Pakistani workforce in Qatar to contribute to the development of the country.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2018