QBA lunch with Mr. Guillaume Pepy, CEO french railway & MEDEF Chairman

04 Mar 2018 QBA Office

QBA Members attended


The Qatari Businessmen Association organized a private lunch with Mr. Guillaume PEPY, CEO of the French Railway Company and Chairman of the Qatari French Committee at MEDEF international. The lunch was attended by H.E. Mr. Eric CHEVALLIER and Eng. Abdallah Al Subaie, Chairman of Qatar Rail, and was organized in honor of Mr. Pepy’s visit who represents MEDEF as one of the largest trade organizations in France and QBA first international partner since its establishment 14 years ago.

Prior to the lunch, a private meeting was held between Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al-Thani, QBA Chairman and Mr. Guillaume PEPY in the presence of HE Mr. Eric CHEVALLIER. The two sides discussed ways to enhance cooperation between Qatar and France and promote investment, as well as work together to create new partnerships, especially with Qatar heading towards self-sufficiency. At the beginning of the meeting, Sheikh Faisal welcomed the guests, pointing out the readiness of QBA members to cooperate with MEDEF and to identify the investment opportunities and economic projects available in France or Qatar. especially that Qatar has issued a number of laws recently that shall attract more investors, added by Sheikh

During the lunch, Mr. Hussein Al Fardan, QBA First Deputy received the guests, along with Sheikh Nawaf bin Nasser Al Thani, QBA Board member, and from QBA Members Mr. Ibrahim Al Jaidah attended the lunch and also Mr. Maqbool Khalfan and Mr. Mohamed Althaf, as well as Ms. Sarah Abdalla, QBA Deputy General Manager

At the beginning of the meeting, Mr. Ibrahim Al-Jaidah delivered a speech in which he welcomed Mr. Pepy and the French Ambassador as well as the guests of the French companies, pointing out that France is one of the largest economic partners of Qatar and Qatar has long been associated with France with close economic and trade ties, as both countries have a consistent economic policy in the fields of trade and investment cooperation

Al-Jaidah added that Qatar, regardless of the blockade, which we were able to overcome, is experiencing economic development under the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, Emir of the State of Qatar,

Mr. Al Jaidah also said that “In Qatar, and regardless of the blockade - which we were able to overcome its impact - we are witnessing an economic development under the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir of Qatar”

He also added that This economic development led the private sector and economic institutions to a stage of maturity through which we started to look for investment and cooperation opportunities not only in the local and regional markets, but also in the global market, and therefore the Qatari Businessmen will be happy to explore the possibility of partnership and cooperation whether these opportunities exist in France or in Qatar as long as It achieves common profit and interest to both countries

For his part, Mr. Pepy gave a speech in which he thanked QBA for this event, and stated that the purpose of his visit to Doha is to set up an action plan that will be implemented by MEDEF International with Qatar over the next months, saying that MEDEF wants to build on the very strong political relationship between France and Qatar and take their business relationship to the next level. He also added that the new situation experienced by Qatar opens fields of opportunities for Qatari-French cooperation in key sectors such as agribusiness, logistics along with the usual strong sectors of cooperation such as energy, defense infrastructure and transportation

Mr. Pepy continued his speech talking about his idea for the Qatari-French business Council which is to promote cooperation in the field of Public Private Partnership, saying that the French private sector has a longstanding expertise and has been developing such PPP schemes in France for decades, which makes this experience of great benefit for the Qatari Partners. Mr. Pepy finished his speech by stating that “the French companies are more determined than ever to engage with Qatari Counterparts and contribute to the economic diversification of Qatar and the expansion of its local private sector in line with its vision 2030

Following the speech of Mr. Pepy, Eng. Abdalla Al Subaie, gave a presentation, presenting the social and economic trends and challenges affecting the transport sector in Qatar, as well as the key role played by the sector in providing Qatar's national vision and development strategies.

During the presentation Mr. Abdullah Al-Subaie talked about the achievements of the Qatar Railways Company in the past 12 months including the completion of 77% of the metro project, award of the operating Service Provider contract and launch of metro retail leasing units