Shaikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Al-Thani was born in Rayyan in 1932.

On 22 February 1972, Shaikh Khalifa Bin Hamad Bin Abdullah Al-Thani became the Amir of Qatar. Upon becoming the Amir of the State of Qatar Shaikh Khalifa started the process of the reorganization of the government. The first task of Shaikh Khalifa was to appoint a Foreign Minister and an adviser to advise the Amir in the day-to-day affairs of the country.

On 19 April 1972, he amended the Constitution and enlarged the Cabinet by appointing more ministers. Diplomatic relations were also established with a number of the foreign countries at ambassadorial level.

On 18 July 1989, the Council of Ministers was reshuffled for the first time, replacing most of the previous ministers and consisting of 15 ministers. The Cabinet was again reshuffled under the Premiership of Shaikh Khalifa on 1 September 1992, enlarging it to 17 members.

In line with the expansion of the state’s administrative functions, the Advisory Council was reconstituted, on 4 December 1990, appointing 19 new members and retaining 11 of its old members. In addition to this, the state Audit Bureau was established to monitor the budgetary performance of government’s agencies and fiscal management. With the expansion of government operations and services, the state’s Civil Service Bureau was also reorganized.

The state revenue from oil sector had increased as the result of the rising of a number of production sharing agreements with foreign oil companies. Two production-sharing agreements were signed with the Standard Oil Company of Ohio in January 1985 and Amoco in February 1986. In January 1989, another production sharing agreement was signed between Qatar and the French State owned oil company Elf Aquitaine.

In the middle of 1991, production of gas in the Qatar North Field, the world’s largest single field of non-associated gas commenced, which has proven reserves of non associated gas of around 250 trillion cubic feet and probable reserves of 500 trillion cubic feet. While the search for finding more oil deposits in Qatar continued, Qatar built an industrial base in order to reduce dependence on the oil sector.

Apart from the increased production in Qatar Cement Factory, the first Chemical Fertilizer plant came on stream in 1973, in the industrial zone of Mesaieed, south of Doha. The second major step in Qatar’s industrialization was the establishment of a Steel mill at Mesaieed in 1978, with the collaboration of Kobe Steel and Tokyo Boeki of Japan. Qatar’s third industrial venture, the Petrochemical Complex came on stream in 1981, also at Mesaieed.

In June 1995, the administration of Qatar was transferred to the then Heir Apparent His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa bin Hamad Al-Thani.