The Doha-Rome political and institutional contacts continued to expand and recently witnessed cooperation in the field of energy through the partnership between Italy's Eni and Qatar Energy in the North Field LNG expansion project, the world's largest natural gas field.
These relations were also bolstered by the State of Qatar's successful participation in Expo Milano 2015, where the State of Qatar's pavilion organized several events that greatly contributed to introducing the Qatari economy and its broad investment prospects.
The bilateral cooperation between the two countries also covers the military field and includes Qatar's five billion euro deal with Italy for seven navy vessels, as well as its purchase of NH90 helicopters, the largest military helicopter program.
The Qatari-Italian relations are linked by a set of agreements and memoranda of understanding covering cooperation in the economic, political, diplomatic, defense, investment, scientific, educational, health, youth, sports, artistic, cultural and tourism sectors and in the fields of energy, agriculture and strategic projects related to food security, in addition to the establishment of a joint Qatari-Italian businessmen council, to strengthen economic relations and explore areas of bilateral cooperation.
Italy is an important partner for the State of Qatar, as the volume of trade exchange between the two countries has witnessed remarkable development in recent years and the economic partnership between the two parties has grown over the past ten years by more than 320 percent.
The Italian Republic is the eighth largest trading partner of the State of Qatar, its seventh supplier, and one of the most important destinations for Qatari investments that have entered into various sectors and economic activities there, embodying the State of Qatar's keenness to harness part of its resources to invest in the economies of strategic partners where there are promising investment opportunities. The Qatari investments in Italy are focused on the sectors of real estate, hotels and some residential areas development, in addition to the investments of Qatar Airways.
The number of Italian companies operating in the State of Qatar is estimated at 250 companies, including 200 companies with joint Qatari-Italian capital and 50 companies with 100 percent Italian capital and ownership. The Italian companies play an important role in supporting the development plans and projects in Qatar, focusing mainly on the building and construction market, due to the diversity of the activities of its companies operating in this field, such as the manufacture of raw building materials, especially the production of Italian marble and the manufacture of construction machinery and equipment, information technology, trade, services and other vital sectors.
The Italian companies operating in the State of Qatar attach great importance to the field of renewable energy, which is a matter of mutual interest between the two countries, especially in light of the State of Qatar's tendency to consolidate reliance on clean and environmentally friendly energy in all its development projects.
With an area estimated at 300,000 square kilometers and a population of more than 60 million, Italy was the world's seventh-largest economy and the fourth in Europe in 2008, according to the International Monetary Fund. It is a member of the Group of Eight (G8) Industrialized Nations, the European Union and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. (QNA)