His Highness Speech at the Opening of the 41st Advisory Council Session
In the name of Allah, and by His blessing, I declare the 41st Session of the Shura Council open.
Dear members of the Shura Council,
At the outset of your legislative session, and in line with our annual customary procedure, we meet to review together the development journey of the State of Qatar during last year and to talk to you about our efforts to serve our country and achieve more progress and prosperity for our people.
In circumstances similar to those of the State of Qatar, and the Arab world in general, there is no way to count on habit and repetition. Our society and economy undergo accelerated growth, thank God; accordingly people’s requirements are varied and the need arises for the rapid growth to be coupled with human development compatible with its pace, especially as we are living amidst historic transformations and an unstable international and Arab situation.
These circumstances that characterize our economy impose on us a fast pace in terms of action, creative thinking, as well as legislation and management tools.
We work bearing in mind the interests of the community and the Qatari citizen. We are also aware that the mission of State leadership is to discharge the affairs of the country at present, and consider the long-term interests and reflect on the future of the coming generations, driven by our vision that comprehensive development should not be limited to the economic aspect.
While economic growth is its fundamental condition, comprehensive development could only be achieved by serious investment in education that is compatible with the needs of the era and taking care of the environment, human and social health as well as diversifying the sources of income, along with other elements without which economic growth would not last. On the other hand, the ambitious planning of a modern productive and creative society requires political stability and necessitates fruitful interaction with the genuine values and traditions of our country and with the Arab culture that links us to our surroundings, and the Islamic and human values that are inherent in our identity, and which relate us to the wider human spheres.
Dear brothers,
Last year, the State of Qatar maintained the excellent economic growth rates achieved in the past few years to top the list of the countries recording the highest growth rate in the world. Against the backdrop of the repercussions of the financial crisis that continues to impact economic performance in a number of regions worldwide, the performance of the State of Qatar has overcome such repercussions with cautious and firm steps. The real GDP growth for the year 2011 was 2.11 (14.1%). And the nominal GDP increased by 36.3%, driven by increases in hydrocarbon products prices.
Several oil, gas, and petrochemical projects started to generate revenues due to the high value-added of these industries, while the service sector contributed the remainder. Once again Qatar ranked first among Arab and Middle East countries, for the third year in a row, gaining the eleventh position in the Global Competitiveness Rating 2012, which reflects the investors' confidence in the national economy.
As for Qatar's financial position, the global economic developments such as the problems of the Euro zone, regional changes, global economic slowdown and lower growth prospects in emerging countries have all been taken into account. We are fully prepared to deal with all possible results of these developments, including their impacts on oil prices. Qatar has prepared its budget on the basis of the oil price of $65 per barrel. Accordingly, the government investment spending has increased to 61.8 billion Qatari Riyals, or 35% of total public expenditure. This is for the purpose of investing in long-term major projects related to the country's infrastructure such as the port, the airport and other projects. These projects will play a role in raising the growth rates of the economy and stimulating investment. Both the general inflation and basic inflation dropped in the first quarter of this year: the overall annual inflation rate has reached only 1.1% at the end of April this year, while basic inflation declined to 3.7%.
The 2012 - 2013 budget of the State of Qatar also includes investments in health and education sectors, with an increase of 114% in health allocations and 35% in education allocations over the next three years, which we hope would achieve a quantum leap in the level of services provided by the State in these two sectors. We realize the growing needs for better services in terms of quality and quantity; however, I would like to remind you that the rapid economic growth and development needs of the State of Qatar had required a population increase that amounted to about four times the population size of the State of Qatar fifteen years ago. You know what this means in terms of the need for hospitals, schools, roads and infrastructure. It is not possible to build Qatar society, economy and institutions without this population growth, which include expertise, jobs, workers, services etc. This is quite normal. While it was difficult to develop services at the same pace of the exceptional population increase, we have achieved a lot. However, the quality of services should be upgraded and its scope extended. I do not think that the population growth will continue at the same rate in the future. That is why the last decade was the decade of construction and the decade of the economic and development leap. I have reviewed with you in last year's opening session the milestones on this historic journey since the mid-nineties of the last century.
We are aware of the increasing needs for better services in quantity and quality. We are also aware of the need to take the institutional and safety standards, quality, feasibility and environmental specifications into account.
The lessons should be learned from the mistakes, such as what happened earlier this year in Villagio Mall, since human errors and accidents cannot be prevented, but necessary precautions and preventive measures could be taken to avoid them or at least mitigate the damage caused by unavoidable incidents.
Dear brothers,
In order to achieve Qatar National Vision 2030, all State sectors should abide by an advanced and sound management of economic and social policies, so as to ensure high and sustainable growth rates, and at the same time to preemptively deal with changes not only to cushion the national economy against negative effects, but also to achieve the maximum possible benefit. This requires an institutional comprehensive action that coordinates various economic branches to promote macroeconomic stability, and the growth of non-hydrocarbon economic sectors and to prevent duplication, repetition and intermediate red tape that hinders planning and implementation. Efforts should also be doubled to achieve the best investments in the hydrocarbon and other sectors in the country and abroad for the benefit of the future generations, with a view to increasing the revenue proportion from our investments in the State budget.
What applies to our economic activity also holds for the structuring of the State administrative apparatus. Inconsistencies and duplication between various government departments should be removed. Inconsistencies and duplication mean waste of money and overstaffing. It also means complicating procedures for the investor and the citizen. There should not be any duplication in some fields, and at the same time there should not be important and major domains without government institutions to cover them. These obstacles should be overcome even if they necessitate the public sector to be restructured. The private sector activity and its role in the economy should also be supported and activated, and monopoly that hampers its work should be prevented because it is antithetical to the competitive economy.
It is true that we are a rich country in its revenues, aspirations and the capacities of its people, but we are also a country with a vision, and this fact is deep rooted in our history and our society. Qatar has always been a country of Arab affiliation, as it has always been a destination for those who suffered from injustice. The Qatari society has maintained these values and traditions after the Almighty God has blessed us with more boons and after Qatar became a top country in terms of growth rates globally, our society has not forgotten its roots, heritage and the values it embodied over its long history.
Dear members of the Shura Council,
It was not possible for Arab spring countries to set out towards the rule of law, citizens' rights, prosperity and good governance without overcoming the despotic stage, no matter how complex the transition period they undergo was. This is the core issue.
The State of Qatar has no political, economic or social agendas in any other country, whether Arab or non-Arab. We do not have any pre-conceived notion at all about what the system of government should be in any other country, but what triggered the ire of some of the voices of the past are two essential things. The first is that we have stood beside the oppressed peoples when they were subjected to brutal repression to a degree that is so intolerable that we could not keep quiet about it; secondly, in the State of Qatar there is a vision and independent Arab media that could not fail to cover events objectively.
The brotherly Republic of Egypt has changed. It has now an elected regime and is on its way toward democratic transformation and economic development. When Egypt rises the entire Arab nation will rise along with it.
I should like to commend the efforts of the new administration in Egypt led by Dr. Mohamed Morsi to break the siege imposed on the Gaza Strip. And these efforts should encourage the Arab brothers to take steps that would contribute to mitigating the sufferings of our people in Gaza Strip and honor their pledges to its reconstruction.
In the brotherly Republic of Tunisia, there is a representative democratic system that has gone a long way in preparing a new constitution, and in building a mainstream trend that lays emphasis on citizenship as a social contract.
This also applies to Libya, which we backed to achieve the ambitions of the Libyan people.
As for the brotherly Yemen, we declare our solidarity with the Yemeni people and their efforts to move to democracy, as we are aware of the complexities of the situation there and have confidence in the ability of the Yemeni people and their political forces and the wisdom of their citizens to overcome difficulties.
I do not need to remind you of the difficult situations in Syria, where the brotherly Syrian people suffer from a regime choosing to respond to the legitimate demands with force, when the people took to streets to defend their dignity in a peaceful manner. Brothers, the suffering of the Syrian people has dragged on for long, although the whole world supports their just demands.
In this context, we emphasize the responsibility of the UN Security Council as to the continuation of their suffering; we also place a similar or even greater responsibility on the Arab League. Isn’t our nation, as mentioned in the saying of the Prophet (PBUH), “like one body, if one organ is in pain then the whole body is in pain”?
So, what about Syria, which is in the heart of the Arab body? Hasn’t the echo of the screaming orphans, bereaved mothers and widows of Syria, who are shaking the Arab world, reached the Arab League states?
On this occasion we would like to express our appreciation to the countries that accommodated Syrian refugees, but at the same time we express our regret and surprise at the suffering they are subjected to because of the degrading practices committed against them in places where they have been forced to take refuge due to the bonds of blood and neighborhood. In such circumstances the hosting country is supposed to mitigate the humiliation inflicted on refugees and make the Syrian citizens arriving in any Arab country feels that they are in their own homeland.
Dear brothers,
In these intricate Arab circumstances, the Palestinian cause remains the central Arab issue; even it seemed to be pushed aside due to the preoccupation of the Arab peoples with their own situations and rights.
But we have to mention that Palestine was in the hearts of the Arab peoples when they took to the streets demanding for change, and that the slackness of the Arab regimes regarding the Palestine cause is one of the reasons for public anger. The Government of Israel, which acts in a short-sighted fashion when it takes advantage of this situation to intensify settlement activities, should not forget that. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has even thought of proposing the amendment of the status of the West Bank to a non-occupied territory so that settlement activities are formally subject to the Israeli law without taking into account its international status as an occupied territory. The fact is that peoples' destiny is not determined by an Israeli decision, and Israel has no right to determine the destiny of the territories it occupies. All the Israeli settlements are illegal regardless of the labels used by the Israeli government. This applies to Jerusalem, the Golan Heights and to Shebaa Farms.
This right will not be lost, and will not be abandoned by the Arab states, but will be called for with vigor and determination more than ever before. We have no doubt that their potential and growing international status would enable it to regain that right.
I take this opportunity to call on our Palestinian brothers to join their forces for rebuilding the Liberation Organization, and uniting the Palestinian Authority institutions at this particular stage. In fact, the state of division is no longer comprehendible to any one, and should be surpassed. There is neither a peace process nor a struggling liberation strategy that may cause division.
The issue now is to maintain the Palestinian national unity, preserve the centrality of the Palestine cause both at the Arab and international levels, and prevent Israel from exploiting the existing vacuum. On this the Palestinians should get united, and here we only see theoretical differences compared to the condition of the Palestinian people, and do not justify division.
Dear brothers,
The State of Qatar continues its efforts to strengthen cooperation with our brothers in the Gulf at the political and economic levels, and in developing mechanisms of action of the Gulf Cooperation Council. We have recently supported the initiative of my brother, the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques in achieving unity that is based on brotherly bonds and common denominators linking us.
While we commend this kind initiative and thank the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for it, we believe that it is possible to actually start with the single Gulf currency and coordination on the common security issues. As for the free movement of citizens between our states, we have accomplished a lot so far. We believe that the goals I am talking about are tenable and realistic goals if there is a sincere will to achieve them.
As for the security of the Gulf in general, you also know that we oppose resolving disputes by force, and always demand solving them through dialogue. This is in our interest and also our principles and we believe that the way to resolve any dispute with Iran should be through dialogue and by peaceful means.
Dear brothers,
A new era begins in the Arab world from the Ocean to the Gulf. The State of Qatar, which looks forward to the future and which is always developing, is reconciled with itself and with its values and is in harmony in its journey with the movement of history towards a better future. The interests of the community and the Qatari citizen remain at the top of our priorities and concerns.
May Allah grant you success in the 41st Session.
May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon you.