Most countries will be on good terms with him. Therefore, the emir from small but powerful and rich Qatar is received with pomp and splendor wherever he travels. Now he is on his first visit to Norway. Who is the Emir of Qatar? His full name is Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, but in the Middle East he often goes by the name Sheikh Tamim. He is 44 years old. POWERFUL FRIENDS: Sheikh Tamim with his wife visiting French President Emmanuel Macron. Photo: Abaca It is said that he has been married at least three times and that he has 13 children. Sheikh Tamim has attended some of the most prestigious schools in the world, such as the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst in the UK. He is fluent in Arabic, English and French. The 44-year-old has led his country since 2013, when he took over from his father. The Qatar peninsula, which is smaller than Vestfold and Telemark county, is sandwiched between powerful countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iran. The ruling Al Thani family has ruled the country for over 100 years. Their word is law, and they decide most things. Qatar is an absolute monarchy. This means that things like freedom of press and speech do not exist. The Al-Thani family has used the oil wealth on themselves, but also to carry out an extreme transformation of their country. Luxury and human rights violations During the last 60-70 years, Qatar has gone from being an unknown place where people engaged in fish trading and pearl diving, to becoming one of the world’s richest and most influential countries. THE HYPER MODERN: This is what the capital Doha looks like today. Photo: imageBROKER Around 2.7 million people live in Qatar. Only 300,000 of these are local Qataris. The search-rich state takes good care of its citizens from cradle to grave. Qataris pay zero tax, they get free home, school, education, health, yes even the funeral is covered by the state. That is one of the reasons why Qatar has not experienced popular uprisings and loud demands for democracy and freedom of expression. Most Qataris are simply too well off to protest the country’s autocratic and undemocratic leadership. PROSPERITY: Qatar’s 300,000 local residents live in squalor. Photo: Reuters In addition, around 2 million migrant workers live in Qatar. They make up 95 percent of the workforce in the country. It is the migrant workers who have built Qatar and transformed the capital Doha from a sleepy little port city into a modern world metropolis in a few decades. Today, the Qataris can boast of having world-class roads, schools, universities, hospitals and airports. Qatar has received a lot of criticism for the way they have treated the workers. They have had few rights and are often crammed together in run-down blocks of flats where they live in miserable conditions. In connection with the World Cup in 2022, Qatar took a number of measures, for which they have received praise from the international labor organization ILO. WORKFORCE: Around 2 million migrant workers live in Qatar. Photo: AP As the first country in the Gulf region, Qatar has introduced a minimum wage. It gave more than a quarter of a million workers a pay rise. The law was changed so that workers could change employers if they were dissatisfied. They were also allowed to leave Qatar if they wished. Employers who breached these rules risked penalties and fines. In addition, the authorities in Qatar have paid out almost NOK 7 billion since 2019 to workers who had not received their wages. Why Qatar is so powerful? There are two main reasons for that: Gas and Diplomacy. Qatar sits on some of the world’s largest gas deposits, after Russia and Iran. Their gas helps keep the wheels turning in economic superpowers such as China, India and Japan. WEALTH: The Al-Thani family is one of the world’s richest royal families. Photo: Reuters That makes the emir and his country one of the world’s richest. The ruling Al-Thani family has a personal fortune that is cautiously estimated at an incredible NOK 1,600 billion. By comparison, Norway’s richest man, John Fredriksen, is worth NOK 200 billion. In addition, there is the state’s wealth of more than NOK 5,000 billion, which is managed by an oil fund, as we have in Norway. The state oil fund QIA has invested its gas billions all over the world. Qatar owns parts of Hollywood production companies, car manufacturer Porsche, luxury brands such as Louis Vuitton and Valentino, the venerable Harrods shopping center in London and Barclays Bank. In 2011, they bought the French major club Paris Saint-Germain (PSG). In 2022, they organized the most expensive Football World Cup of all time. The price tag is believed to have landed at a staggering NOK 2,300 billion. EXPENSIVE FUN: In 2022, Qatar organized the most expensive sports championship of all time. Photo: XINHUA They own skyscrapers in the US, Singapore and London, where they have built Britain’s tallest building, The Shard. In the British capital, it is joked that the Qataris own more property than the British royal house. Their deep pockets mean that most countries will nurture a good relationship with the Qataris. No one will repel the wealthy Arabs. Diplomatic battle But Qatar will be more than just another oil-rich Arab country. They want to assert themselves in world politics, and the core of the strategy is to be friends with everyone. It is a very demanding political tightrope walk in the conflict-ridden Middle East. ALLIES: Qatar is one of the USA’s most important allies in the Middle East Photo: AP They are one of the USA’s most important allies in the Middle East. The Americans have 10,000 soldiers stationed in the small country. That does not prevent them from having close ties with America’s arch-enemy Iran, while at the same time cooperating with Iran’s arch-enemy Israel. In addition, they support Israel’s worst enemy Hamas, which has been allowed to establish itself in the capital Doha. Right now, Qatar is negotiating between Israel and Hamas to end the war, establish a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and arrange an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The tiny desert country has negotiated peace deals between bitter enemies in Sudan in 2011, averted a civil war in Lebanon in 2008, and got the US and the Taliban to bury the hatchet in Afghanistan after 20 years of war. MEDIATOR: Qatar ensured that the US and the Taliban ended the 20-year war in Afghanistan. Photo: GIUSEPPE CACACE / AFP It was Qatar that made it possible for NATO and Western countries to withdraw from the war-torn country. When the entire Western world left Afghanistan in a hurry, leaving a chaos in Kabul in 2021, it was Qatar that came to the rescue. The Qataris evacuated hundreds of thousands of Afghans who had worked for NATO countries. This is how Qatar has become a political and diplomatic giant on the world stage. What is the emir going to do in Norway? Sheikh Tamim is on a tour of the Nordic countries, where he will, among other things, visit Sweden and Finland. The Norwegian authorities and the emir will talk about peace diplomacy, economic cooperation, technological change and the green shift. Norway and Qatar will also sign several letters of intent. The Qataris will, among other things, enter into cooperation with Norway’s largest arms manufacturer, the Kongsberg group. The visit to Norway starts on Tuesday evening with an official dinner at the Holmenkollen Restaurant at 1900, hosted by Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre. Tomorrow the emir will go to the castle to meet King Harald. Listen to a podcast from Urix: Published 03/09/2024, at 19.39 Updated 03.09.2024, at 19.46
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That’s why the sheikh in Qatar wants to be a world broker – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
