Qatar getting ready for next stage of business evolution to beat the blockade
If blockading countries thought Qatar would succumb to their combined pressures and bullying tactics, then they should have understood by now that it was just wishful thinking.
Qatar has started to rely on itself for ensuring their food security, instead of importing everything like before. It has led Qatari businessmen to think of innovative strategies, like flying in cows from all over the world.
As a direct result of the economic blockade, Brand Qatar has begun to open up further, a report in The Guardian said.
According to the article, the country’s next plan is to establish itself as the place to do business for companies wanting to trade with Kuwait, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Oman.
If the economy stays afloat, Doha's chances of maintaining its independent foreign policy and forcing the Saudis into a slow, albeit disguised, retreat will be that much better, Qatar Tribune quoted the report as saying.
As the Doha skyline attests, Qatar is not a country that does things by half measures, and the Baladna Farm’s large parent company, Power International Holding, is throwing money at the challenge.
The CEO of Baladna Farm John Dore is importing cows from the US as fast as he can.
The farm plans to supplement its existing herd of 4,000, which is capable of cornering 30% to 40% of Qatar’s milk market, with a further 10,000 by next summer nearly enough to meet the milk needs of the country’s whole population of 2.3m.
“The boycott has been great thing for Qatar in a way,” Dore said.
“It has been a wakeup call to the entire country. It has made them aware of all the opportunities that’re there, and not just in farming. Nearly 80% of its food came from its neighbours.
“The people that have shot themselves in the foot are the Saudis. If the blockade was lifted, there is so much pro-Qatar sentiment and nationalist pride that the people will buy Qatar milk, not Saudi,” said the 58-year-old farmer.
Self-sufficiency in food is only one test of whether Qatar can withstand the blockade and perhaps even emerge stronger, ready to receive tens of thousands of visitors to the 2022 World Cup.
The Guardian quoted Minister of Finance Ali Shareef Al Emadi as saying, “If you look by the second month of the blockade, the trade balance was almost back to the pre-crisis levels. For one month, we had a 40% drop in imports, but we quickly adjusted. The whole country has shifted in less than a month.”
