Qatar’s Business Climate and New FDI Law

Dr. Hassan Al-Ansari is currently the Director of the Gulf Studies Center, Qatar. He received his BA at Cairo University, and his Ph.D. in Modern Middle East History at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. He serves in the Amiri Diwan of the State of Qatar, as an advisor, for more than twenty years, mostly in the research and political departments. Dr. Al-Ansari also used to teach modern history at the University of Qatar and The Editor-in-Chief of the English newspaper Qatar Tribune at the State of Qatar.

Abdulbasit Al-Ajji was appointed as Director of business development and investment promotion in the Ministry of Economic and commerce (MEC) in May 2016. He previously held the role of SPX Department manager in Qatar Enterprise Company SMEs Business Development, where he was responsible for helping local enterprises to successfully meet the challenges of local markets and to take advantage of the emerging opportunities that evolve from industrial subcontracting, outsourcing and supply chain opportunities. Abdulbasit has a strong engineering and business management background. His previous experiences include engineering project work for Qatar Petroleum (QP) as an operations engineering specialist He holds a mechanical engineering certificate from Manchester University as well as a MBA from Hall University (UK)

Yousuf Mohamed Al-Jaida was appointed Chief Executive Officer of the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Authority in June 2015. He previously held the role of Deputy Chief Executive Officer and Chief Strategic and Business Development Officer at the QFC where he was responsible for the overall strategic development. Yousuf has a strong financial background with experience across a variety of roles. Prior to joining the QFC, he was Head of Indirect Investment at the Qatar General Retirement and Pension Authority, which included overseeing the management of hedge fund, private equity, real estate, fixed income and equity portfolio investments. His previous experiences include engineering project work for Qatar Petroleum and Dolphin Energy and managing various real-estate projects in Qatar. He represents the QFC Authority on the boards of the Qatar Exchange, the Qatar Finance and Business Academy, the Financial Markets Development Committee and the Free Zones Authority. He also sits on the Advisory Council of Qatar University's College of Business & Economics. He has previously sat on the boards of Nakilat QSC and the US$1 billion strategic investment fund of Unicorn Investment Bank, as well as serving as Vice Chairman of Mayadeen Real Estate Company KSCC. He graduated from the University of Arizona, USA.

Emad Turkman MBE is a qualified mechanical engineer. Having graduated from a UK university, he went on to obtain a postgraduate diploma in business and marketing. He started his career working for GKN in the UK, and then moved to Dexion Group. In 1988, he was appointed Area Manager for the Middle East based in Saudi Arabia before moving to Qatar in 1995 to the firm's distributor, Rumaillah Services. In addition to his role as Group CEO of Rumaillah Group, he is also the Chairman of Qatar British Business Forum and the Chairman of Apton Partitioning Limited. In 2011, he was awarded an MBE by HM Queen Elizabeth II for his services to promote British businesses and to the British community in the State of Qatar.

Ahmed is the Country Senior Partner at KPMG in Qatar. He brings nearly 30 years of experience in serving clients and leading audit, advisory and country practices in various locations across Europe and the Middle East. As well as leading the Qatar firm, Ahmed is the senior client relationship partner for a number of KPMG's high-profile clients in Qatar, and is seen as a trusted adviser who draws on his Board-level strategic and operational experience to help drive sustainable profitable growth, and performance evolution for clients.

Elias R. Chedid is the COO & Deputy CEO of Seib Insurance & Reinsurance Company LLC and is one of the contributors to Seib establishment and success. With over 25 years of insurance experience, Elias has a proven track record in leading successful changes in various markets. His career started in The UK before moving to Lebanon, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the Gulf region. Elias holds a BSc Mathematics from the American University of Beirut, MA from York St John University Business School in Leading Innovation and Change, he is a Certified Anti Money Laundering Specialist (CAMS) by ACAMS, and an Associate Reinsurance Administration (ARA) by LOMA.