President Türk on working visit to Qatar

Doha, 1.2.2011  |  press release

The Slovenian President, Dr Danilo Türk, has made a working visit to Qatar. He was received in Qatar by his host, the Emir of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani. After plenary talks between the delegations of Qatar and Slovenia, led by respective heads of state, the two statesmen had a one-to-one meeting. In their talks they thoroughly reviewed their bilateral cooperation to date, and exchanged views on developments in the Middle East.

Both sides assessed cooperation between the two countries on humanitarian activity as positive. On this, President Türk drew attention to the contribution of Qatar toward the humanitarian project for rehabilitation of the Palestinian children, victims of the war in Gaza, who were sent for treatment to Slovenia. The talks also touched upon cooperation of the two countries in the financial area; a number of practical aspects of this cooperation were also discussed by Minister of Finance of Qatar and the Slovenian Minister of Finance, Dr Franc Križanič.

The two sides expressed their mutual interest in the development of tourism and in cooperation on transport, with one result of the latter being the Air Service Agreement between the Republic of Slovenia and the Government of Qatar, signed today on behalf of the Republic of Slovenia by Transport Minister Patrick Vlačič. The talks also covered some other projects aimed at increasing tourist visits from Qatar to Slovenia.

The two countries have also started to cooperate in geological research, a development made possible on the basis of the Agreement on Cooperation between the Geological Survey of Slovenia and the Qatar Mining Company, signed today on behalf of the Republic of Slovenia by the Director of the Geological Survey of Slovenia, Dr Marko Komac. The two heads of state also reviewed the status of other previously concluded agreements between the two countries and agreed to accelerate the process of their ratification.

A substantial part of the talks was dedicated to international issues. Sheikh Hamad presented President Türk with his analysis of the situation in the Middle East, in view of current developments in Tunisia and Egypt. President Türk meanwhile, presented his view of the situation in the Balkans. Both assessed that cooperation between Qatar and Slovenia has reached a good level, and agreed to maintain further regular contacts .

Sheikh Hamad later hosted the Slovenian delegation at a working lunch, at which different aspects of bilateral and international cooperation were discussed. As part of President Türk's working visit to Qatar, Minister Križanič held a separate meeting with Minister Yousef Hussain Kamal.