The country is definitely over the blockade, says Qatar’s foreign minister
When four neighbouring countries declared an illegal blockade on Qatar more than a year ago, there were fears that Qatar would suffer the consequences badly.
However, 18 months down the line, things could not have been any more different. Qatar’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has confidently said that his country was firmly over the blockade, reported Qatar Tribune.
For signs of how Qatar has adapted to the blockade imposed by its neighbours, you just need to go no further than the Al Meera grocery in a strip mall across from a mosque, in a residential part of the capital.
Shelves where local products were once rare now are full of Qatari milk, Qatari tissues and Qatari cucumbers, wrote The New York Times.
“This is Qatari. This is Qatari. This is all Qatari,” a supervisor said, pointing out Qatari-made laundry detergent, dish soap and disinfectant.
The home-made products are one of many defensive shifts made by Qatar to survive the political and economic assault by its neighbours, wrote the New York Times.
Instead of giving up fast, Qatar has adapted by retooling its economy and foreign relations in ways that could reshape the strategic layout of the Persian Gulf.
Qatar has beefed up its military, pursued deeper ties with neighbours like Iran, and doubled down on the maverick behaviour that rankled its Arab neighbours in the first place.
“We carried on, we moved on with our economy, we moved on with our life,” Sheikh Mohamed was quoted as saying by NYT.
Qatar’s vast wealth cushioned the blow of the blockade. It dipped deeply into its $340bn reserve funds to establish new trading partners, build up domestic industries and, in some cases, create new ones from scratch.
Sheikh Mohamed said Qatar was no longer spending its reserves to adjust to the new reality.
“We’re over the blockade,” he said, adding that, perversely, it had helped Qatar by pushing it to open new markets.
Really...……. I feel proud whenever I reading this type of messages... and feeling more proud that my first foreign Job is in QATAR.. it would be the last even in Qatar.
Now a days Qatar is being known in the World for its achievement in different-different field.
Products Made in Qatar Product are very very good and the rate are affordable.
I and my family Wish for long and happy healthy life who ever is giving his contribution to this Country.
S.L. Dhingra