FOCUS ON LUXEMBURG-QATARI RELATIONS

The official visit to Luxembourg of Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jaber Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar, has considerably strengthened the relationship between the two countries. During the visit, it was indeed agreed for Qatar to enter the Luxemburg aeronautics industry, to establish cooperation with the satellite industry and to create a subsidiary of the National Bank of Qatar in Luxembourg.

The acquisition by Qatar Airways of a 35 per cent stake in Cargolux was formalized. The deal represents a value of $117.5 million, and implies the handing over of the shares held by the Luxembourg holding company BIP (11.5%) and the State (8%). Luxair, the main shareholder, sells 10% of its shares and Qatar Airways becomes the second largest shareholder of Cargolux. This investment by Qatar Airways, which also examines the possibility of opening a direct line between Doha and Luxembourg, is to strengthen its ambition to become one of the most important players in air cargo by 2015.

But cooperation between Qatar and Luxembourg is not just limited to strategic partnership in the field of aviation. A subsidiary of the Qatar National Bank will be established in Luxembourg if the required authorizations have been conferred.

A memorandum of understanding was also signed by Ms. Hessa Al-Jaber, Secretary General of ictQATAR (Higher Council for IT and communication technologies) and Romain Bausch, President and CEO of the Luxembourg company SES. The memorandum will explore possibilities of cooperation for the creation of platforms for satellite networks and services to be deployed in the Middle East and beyond. Both parties intend to develop joint projects in space, orbital positions and the related ground stations.

Trade relations between Luxembourg and the Gulf countries are still small, but growing steadily. Exports of services by Luxembourg rose from 3 million euros in 2006 to 12 million in 2007 and 63 million at the end of 2010. This flow represents only 0.1% of the total exports of services in Luxembourg.

Imports register a less dramatic evolution : from 2 million euros in 2006 to 27 million in 2010 (0.1% of total services imports).

In terms of trade in goods, Luxembourg has a large surplus on the balance of payments : in 2010 the country exported 2.24 billion euros of merchandise (mainly machinery: 1.3 billion), while imports amounted to 6 million euros.