Qatar Calls for GCC Common Policy for Purchasing Food & Pharma Products

Qatar Chamber has participated in the consultative meeting between GCC ministers of commerce and heads of unions and chambers of commerce and industry, which was held recently in Muscat, Oman. The chamber’s delegation was led by its chairman, Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassim al-Thani, and included Qatar Chamber second vice chairman Rashid bin Hamad al-Athba and board member Mohamed bin Mahdi al-Ahbabi.

During the meeting, Sheikh Khalifa discussed the issues surrounding supply chains and their impact on the GCC region in terms of food and goods shortage, as well as the rise of prices. He noted that GCC States have been facing a number of global challenges like the Covid-19 pandemic, containers, and the Ukraine-Russia war, as well as the impact of price hikes in grains, fertilizers, and medicine, as well as the delays in supply chains, which had an impact on the GCC food security.

Sheikh Khalifa stressed the importance of forming a Permanent Emergency Crisis Committee and preparing a strategy for finding alternatives for imports. He also emphasized the importance of establishing a unified policy for the purchase of strategic goods like food and medicine and providing attractive incentives for GCC investors. He called on the Food Security Committee, which was established by the Agricultural Cooperation Committee at the General Secretariat in 2022 to work on finding practical solutions for these challenges.