Doha, December 31 (QNA) - Doha, December 31 (QNA) - 2022 was a witness to the many achievements by governmental bodies, as they continue their efforts in implementing Qatar National Vision 2030.
The state's successful hosting of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 was the biggest indication of the progress made by the State of Qatar in various fields. The success was a reflection of the state's careful, long-term planning.
In the security field, The State of Qatar was ranked 1st among the countries of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region for the fourth year in a row in the Global Peace Index Report for 2022. Qatar was ranked 23rd globally among 163 countries included in the report on the level of security, advancing by six places over the previous year, as the safest and most secure state. Qatar has also maintained its position as the Safest Country in the world according to Numbeo Crime Index by Country 2022 out of 142 surveyed nations. Qatar’s crime index, according to Numbeo, stands at 13.78, while its safety index is 86.22. The country's success in the security field was thanks to the state's implementation of the highest standards in security.
The security success achieved in the World Cup and other major international tournaments and events hosted by the country is the result of political, social, and economic stability, as well as the high degree of safety confirmed by international indicators.
In the services sector, The Ministry of Interior unveiled seven new services building during Milipol Qatar 2022. They were the Wakra Civil Defense Centre, Al Sailiya Police Station, Al Shamal Security Complex, Al Fazaa Police Department headquarters at Mesaimeer, Al Thumama Traffic Investigation Section, a police tracing section, and Umm Slal Police Station.
The health sector meanwhile saw significant development in 2022. Public hospitals grew to 16 in 2022, compared to six in 2011 when the first National Health Strategy was launched. The number of health centers also rose to 33, compared to 24 in 2011. The private sector for its part also saw significant growth, with 10 hospitals and 390 clinics opening in the year. The workforce in the health sector reached 46,371 people, compared to 20,682 in 2011.
2022 saw Qatar become the first country whose municipalities all have the healthy cities status from the World Health Organization. In that regard, the Ministry of Public Health had signed a three-year partnership with the World Health Organization, FIFA and Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy and the to make the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 a beacon for physical and mental health promotion, and a model for ensuring future mega sport events are healthy and safe. More than 90% of the National Health Strategy 2018-2022 were achieved. The strategy included 54 projects and 16 goals.
The Food Safety Department of the Ministry of Public Health (MOPH) has obtained international accreditation from the ANSI National Accreditation Board (ANAB) in the field of inspection of imported and local foods and local establishments in accordance with the ISO/IEC 17020 system. The international accreditation confirmed the compliance of the standards and methods of inspection implemented by the Food Safety Department at the Ministry with the international standards.
In education, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education continued with its strategy in 2022, lifting the number of public schools to 220. Research institutions and centers also increased to 33 in total, focusing on a wide range of research interests like the environment, energy, medicine, entrepreneurship, computing, social studies, and humanities among other fields.
At the academic level, QS World University Rankings ranked QU 208 in its latest edition, an improvement of 16 places from the previous year. In addition, QU continues to place among the top six universities in the International Outlook indicator, for the seventh year in a row, according to the overall THE World University Rankings.
Qatar Foundation for it made an important contribution in ensuring the success of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 through its many events and initiatives. FIFA Foundation teamed up with Qatar Foundation and Generation Amazing to deliver a range of football initiatives to empower youth and the community of Qatar that go beyond the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022. As part of the agreements, the entities will work together to roll out the Football for Schools (F4S) programme across Qatar. The initiative, run by FIFA in collaboration with UNESCO, aims to contribute to the education, development and empowerment of around 700 million children globally, and seeks to make the sport more accessible to both boys and girls around the world by incorporating football activities into the education system. Education City for its part hosted the Street Child World Cup 2022. Qatar Foundation also held the 2nd edition TEDinArabic in Jordan.
The communications sector saw a lot of developments in 2022 as well. Back in August 2022, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, in partnership with Microsoft, announced the launch of the country's first hyperscale cloud datacenter region. The Microsoft cloud datacenter region in Qatar is the 55th region of Microsoft worldwide, joining the world's largest cloud infrastructure, which enhances the State of Qatar's competitiveness on a global and regional level. This enhancement goes in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 and consolidates the country's position as a leader in the digital transformation era.
The State of Qatar has also occupied advanced positions internationally and regionally (for the Middle East and North Africa region) in the GovTech Maturity Index (GTEI) 2022 issued by the World Bank (WB) Group. The State of Qatar ranked (A) in the group of highly developed countries with classification (A) and a maturity level of 87.4%.
The Ministry of Justice also saw many achievements in 2022. The ministry implemented 35 legal and service projects as part of its strategic plan 2020-2022. The Ministry confirmed that work is underway to transform the services of the Ministry of Justice into electronic services as part of an integrated plan for the digital transformation process and will see digital services to 209.
In the field of retirement, the General Retirement and Social Security Authority saw the value of the funds’ investments amount to approximately QR113 billion for the Civil and Military Pension Funds. 99.4% of the funds' investments are in Qatar.
The infrastructure sector saw Ashghal implement a large number of projects in record time. The authority completed with a total length of 1,791 km, in addition to 207 bridges and 143 tunnels. Among the major roads that have been opened during the past years are Al Majd Road, Al Khor Road, Lusail Road, G-Ring Road and Al Rayyan Road. In addition to Sabah Al Ahmad Corridor, Khalifa Avenue and E-Ring Road. The authority also developed a total of 2,131km pedestrian and cycling tracks between 2013 and 2022. Ashghal also constructed Panda Shelter and Umm Al Seneem Park in cooperation with the Ministry of Municipality and Dar Al Kuttub project with the Ministry of Culture, and development works of the Museum of Islamic Art with Qatar Museums.
In the transportation sector, the Ministry of Transport developed the projects of the Public Bus Infrastructure Program, fully equipped with an infrastructure that facilitates the operation of ecofriendly e-buses as part of achieving the goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030. The Program consists of 8 bus stations (Al Sudan, Msheireb, Al Gharrafa, Lusail, Al Wakra, Education City, Industrial Area, and West Bay Central), and 4 bus depots in Lusail, the New Industrial Area, Al Wakra, and Al Rayyan. All these facilities are supported with over 650 charging stations for e-bus operations.
Qatar's maritime sector saw active traffic between November 18 and December 10 with as many as 109 vessels calling Hamad Port and another 76 at Al Ruwais Port. The general cargo handled at Hamad Port during the review period stood at 77,584 tons and containers were at 84,029 TUEs (20-foot equivalent units). The Ministry of Transport pledged that all public transport buses and government school buses will be electric by 2030.
In terms of civil aviation, September 2022 witnessed the State of Qatar's activation of its newly developed airspace, and the launch of the first phase of the Doha Flight Information Region (FIR). In light of this development, capacity rate was increased to about 100 air movements per hour, with the number of the State of Qatar's incoming and outgoing air routes standing at 17 different paths in order to achieve a smoother traffic flow and guarantee greater safety.
In 2022, the capacity of Hamad International Airport was expanded to welcome more than 58 million passengers annually, which contributed to a significant reduction in waiting time, thanks to the new transfer hall. As for plane boarding, 5 new gates were added, in addition to a new gates bus that guarantees improved accessibility and services at 12 aircraft stands.
In the municipal sector, the Ministry of Municipality has accomplished many achievements on several fronts. When it comes to food security, the percentage of self-sufficiency in local vegetables increased from about 20 percent in 2017 to reach about 46 percent in 2022, an increase of about 130 percent. Self-sufficiency of dairy products increased from only about 28 percent in 2017 to 100 percent in 2022, which means that the sufficiency rate has quadrupled over the last five years.
Self-sufficiency has also been realized by 100 percent of fresh broiler chicken, after standing at 50 percent in 2017. As for fresh red meat, the self-sufficiency rate increased from 13 percent in 2017 to about 18 percent in 2022, an increase of about 38 percent. As for fresh fish self-sufficiency, it stands at about 77 percent.
The state has also paid attention to beautifying cities and developing public parks. In 2022, the green area in the country multiplied by 10 folds compared to 2010, through the expansion of parks and green spaces. The number of public parks increased during the same period from 56 parks to 143 parks, an increase rate of 164 percent, so that the per capita share of the green area increased from (1) square meters in 2010 to 16.2 square meters in 2022, at a rate of increase of 16 times.
In terms of environmental conservation, green growth, and limiting the effects of climate change, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change has implemented programs and projects aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving environmental protection, adapting to the effects of climate change, and optimizing the use of water, in order to reduce water wastage and encouraging its reuse, in addition to enhancing the efficiency of gas and energy consumption, recycle waste, and increase green spaces.
When it comes to civil service, the Civil Service and Government Development Bureau continued to implement future strategies and plans that enhances the productivity of human resources and government manpower, raising the level and quality of work, and improving the efficiency of government services in the country.
A new set of services and updates was also launched on Kawader, in cooperation with the Ministry of Labor and the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. Additionally, the Tamheen training program was launched in cooperation with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.
The Civil Service and Government Development Bureau also launched a rapid recruitment campaign in coordination with the government agencies participating in the national employment platform Kawader, where employment interviews were organized with 48 government agencies, with the aim of facilitating employment procedures for job seekers registered on the platform and hiring 2,501 job seekers registered on the platform in government agencies.
In the domain of administrative control, the Administrative Control and Transparency Authority has worked diligently to strengthen the legal and institutional frameworks for transparency, integrity and prevention of corruption in the State of Qatar, and to build on the country's achievements in this regard, given the great importance of this matter in enhancing the efficiency and effectiveness of government agencies, enhancing work and investment environments in the private sector, and raising awareness of the values of integrity and transparency in line with the established cultural and social values of the State of Qatar.
The Administrative Control and Transparency Authority also succeeded in coordination with the concerned authorities in the country recently in many levels in this field, foremost of which is the amendment of a number of pivotal legislation in corruption prevention and combat, including the amendment of the Penal Code to ensure the criminalization of bribery of international employees and employees of international public institutions, in addition to the amendment of the Code of Criminal Procedure to create Many legal tools and means to enhance international cooperation in preventing and combating corruption, in addition to issuing the victims and witnesses protection law, to provide more protection to persons who report legal violations, especially those related to public money.
These legislations included the issuance of a law regulating the right to access information, which puts the State of Qatar among the few countries in the world that have specialized legislation in this field, ensuring the transparency of the public sector, and enhancing the confidence of international and local investors, and official and private work mechanisms in the country, in accordance with international standards in this field, especially the United Nations Convention against Corruption, the Arab Convention against Corruption, as well as other relevant international agreements. (QNA)