In the Name of God,The Most Compassionate, The Most Merciful

Honourable Brothers,
Members of the Advisory Council,

      In the name of the Almighty God and with His blessing, I declare open the 31st Session of your esteemed Council.

Honourable Brothers,

      As we meet at your esteemed Council, I have to extend my deep thanks to you for your constant efforts and valuable contributions to enrich the legislative work in service of the public interest, with full awareness of our keenness to serve our country and the persistent endeavours to advancing and developing our society in line with our aspirations for the good of our citizens and the prosperity of our country.

      Our strategy for the realization of development is based on three axes, namely: building up the individual who is capable of dealing with the requirements of his times; establishing state institutions capable of effecting development and leading progress, and building the national economy that has become the backbone of the power and prosperity of the modern state.

      Allow me to start with the building of the individual as being the first brick in society and the pillar of any progress and development.

      I have spoken to you, Honourable Brothers, on previous occasions of the importance of upgrading our educational system. We have, undoubtedly, made significant steps in this field, yet it is no longer feasible to be confined to the traditional system. Hence, the Higher Council for Education has been created to be the highest authority on the development of education to meet the State requirements for excellent human resources and qualifications in all spheres. The Council has been given the powers that enable it, with the help of its specialized institutions, to draw up and develop educational policies and gear them with the concepts, aims and plans of education in the framework of the general policy of the State.

      On the other hand, it has become vital to support the efforts of the State with other additional efforts, be it private or public, and boldly embark into spheres that symbolize the interests and means of the age by making use of international expertise, of which our own capabilities fall short. In this respect, we have begun by taking the necessary steps to house the sciences, the knowledge and institutions of the century in Qatar. Basic steps have already been taken along this road.

      Building the individual cannot be effective only by providing the best means of education. Excellence and creativity demand a healthy climate of freedom of expression, and the sense of belonging, which can only be realized via popular participation in decision-making. Hence, our concern in the past years was to take the necessary measures to reach those means, which are known to you all, starting with the lifting of censorship on the media and finally the promulgation of a permanent constitution based on the separation of powers and creation of an elected legislative council.

      While we are very much aware that moving into the climate of freedom has its obligations and consequences on every one, yet that such an experience can be tainted, especially at the beginning, with some negative effects or excesses. Nevertheless, the positive gains that shall be realized for our country in an open society that does not know the dominance of the one viewpoint, and adopts constructive dialogue to achieve public interest, outweigh all the negative aspects, which will gradually disappear as popular participation establishes itself.

Members of the Advisory Council,

      In regards to regards State institutions, we do not think that the issue is only to deal with aspects of incapability in the performance of government organs or rid government work of red tape and sluggish functioning. We think that upgrading government institutions to cope with the modern standards is an urgent priority. This requires two things; reorganization of these organs and upgrading the way they perform their tasks on the one hand, and on the other hand providing the proper organizational and legislative framework under which these organs function.

      On the other hand, the State has taken effective steps in the sphere of running some vital facilities through public authorities and corporations that are not restricted by governmental rules and systems. The legislation for the creation of The Public Authority of Civil Aviation, the Public Authority for Customs and Seaports, as well as the General Post Corporation, has been issued. They replaced the government organs that were running those facilities within the framework of the ministries. The objective is to arrive at the best standards of competence and efficiency that would assure achieving the aims of social development and as a prelude to considering the privatization of some public services at a later stage.

Brothers,

      With regard to our national economy, the economic development strategy adopted by the State in the last few years has proven to be fruitful. The domestic gross produce has witnessed high rates of growth that resulted in doubling it during the period 1995 to 2001. This strategy was based on a plan of investing in the major resources of the country, namely oil and gas. As a result of this plan, a large number of big projects in the fields of oil, gas and petrochemicals have been implemented, the productions of which successfully entered the world markets.. We keep increasing the volume of these investments, with concentration on down-stream industries to increase integration of the domestic economy, and on new technologies, such as gas into liquids, which provide us with various opportunities for the utilization and exportation of gas, our principal natural wealth.

      The government is making all possible efforts to continue developing the infrastructure, promote the suitable investment climate for the private sector and expand openness to consolidate the existing confidence in the Qatari economy and attract further investments, especially in feasible small and medium projects. As a result of those efforts, we are beginning to see tangible activities by the local private sector in several spheres such as communications, electricity, air and sea transportation, and tourist and health projects.

      We look forward to the day when the private sector activities extend to most fields to play its full role in the development process.

      The privatization program is the other dimension for increasing the contribution of the private sector in the national economy. It can be said that this program opens a wide scope for the private sector to contribute to the existing state projects. On the basis of this program, part of the petrochemical, fertilizer and steel industries will be privatized during next year.

      The aim of this strategy is to diversify the sources of income and establish a strong and balanced economy, which we hope, can turn the rates of economic growth attained in the past years into sustained rates that are less susceptible to the fluctuations in world oil prices than in the past.

Honourable Members of The Advisory Council,

      The Committee for the preparation of the Permanent Constitution has crowned our legislative efforts to build the state of law and institutions by finalizing the draft of the permanent constitution of the State of Qatar as scheduled. That was not a simple task. The Committee had exerted great commendable and appreciable efforts. The draft of that constitution is satisfactory for our aims to establish the pillars of a state of institutions, guarantee the rights and freedoms of the citizens of this homeland, incorporate popular participation and preserve our cultural heritage, of which we are proud.

      To complete this edifice, we are now working on drafting the complementary laws to the constitution .I hope that this integrated legislative work will soon be finalized so as to start a new epoch in our national march under the permanent constitution that will lay solid grounds for the realization of the progress and prosperity to which we aspire.

Honourable Members of The Advisory Council,

      We are all aware of the gravity of the challenges besetting our Arab and Muslim nations. We think that it has become incumbent upon us to leave behind the stage of reactions and take the initiative in our crucial causes that forebode the gravest dangers. Perhaps one of the most significant of those challenges is what the Arabs and Muslims in general have been facing since the 9/11 events, namely a ferocious campaign on their faith aimed at accusing them of terrorism and putting their civilization in a collision course with Western civilization in the framework of the so called clash of civilizations. We all know the extent to which these mistaken concepts have reached about Islam and the Muslims. We have found that it is our duty to start with a step that goes beyond the position of mere defence or refutation and begin a cultural dialogue aimed at deepening the areas of mutual understanding and consolidating the bases of reciprocal respect and cooperation between all societies and countries. As a first step on this road, we hosted the Doha Conference on the U.S.A. relations with the Islamic World, which dealt with many of the issues on the international arena in this respect, where the discussions covered various viewpoints.

      I hope that the scope of this dialogue will include all parties concerned, at the suitable forum and with the proper mechanisms. It is not in any body’s interest that the seeds of mistrust, hatred and distrust should deepen. Moreover, the re-imposition of psychological or actual barriers among international communities is incompatible with the move to globalization and its pre-requisites of cooperation on equal footing, the exchange of benefits and reciprocal respect among all countries and peoples of the world.

Brothers,

      We have always been keen on abiding by the principles of international legality and the importance of settling international disputes via peaceful means and work for providing the means of security and stability for our region for the good of our countries and peoples. Hence we are deeply satisfied with the positive developments, which resulted from the Beirut Arab Summit with regard to the case between Iraq and Kuwait, and stress the importance of respecting the sovereignty of the State of Kuwait, its security and territorial integrity, as well as the independence of Iraq and its territorial integrity.

      We also call upon Iraq to accept the Security Council Resolution issued lately on the resumption of operations of weapons inspection, which will make it possible to solve the question of Iraq’s weapons through the United Nations and within the framework of its resolutions, to avoid causing further suffering to the Iraqi people and avert the disasters of a new war from the whole region.

Honourable Brothers,

      The aggressive practices of Israel against the Palestinian people and their leadership constitute grave escalation of the situation in the area, which clearly proves Israel’s choice of the use of force to achieve its objectives and targets instead of dialogue and the language of peace. While hailing the steadfastness of the Palestinian people, we affirm the support of the State of Qatar to the Palestinian people in their legitimate struggle to attain their national rights and establish their independent state. We call upon the international community to provide international protection for the Palestinian people and act to stop the aggression against them.

      These aggressive practices and Israel’s continuation of its occupation of Syrian territories in the Golan Heights and its failure to complete its withdrawal from the rest of the occupied Lebanese territories make the peace to which the peoples and countries of the region aspire unattainable. The international community has to shoulder its responsibilities in this connection in the framework of the U.N. resolutions.

Honourable Brothers,

      I wish you all success in your mission and look forward with you to a new year where we work hand in hand with all resolve, trust and commitment to implement our national programs and realize our social and development targets to achieve for our country the desired progress and high standing.

      May the Almighty guide us along the rightful ways to achieve that which is beneficial.

May the peace, mercy and blessings of God be upon you.