The Qatar Trade Summit kicked off yesterday at the Hotel Intercontinental, Doha the City, Doha. The theme of the summit is “Transforming Qatar into a logistics hub and enabling Qatar’s economic diversification”. The summit is designed to encourage the nation’s foray into becoming an economic leader and logistics hub of the region.

The summit opened to a stellar plenary keynote by the distinguished Mr. Yousuf Al Jaida, CEO & Board Member of the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), where he emphasized on how the nation is progressing towards a sustained economic growth through long term diversification. The plenary session was followed by some insightful and technically driven presentations covering seaports and shipping and the air cargo sector.

In the Ports and shipping session, Mr. Lim Meng Hui, CEO, Qatar Free Zones Authority, Qatar presented on how the free zones in Qatar are positioned to enhance trade through connectivity between air and sea ports. The session also hosted industry leaders Mr. Cyril Anand, Director, Strategic Accounts, Ooredoo Qatar; Mr. James Baker, Editor, Lloyd’s List Containers, UK; Mr. James Baker, Editor, Lloyd’s List Containers, UK; Mr. Matteo Natali, General Manager, Digital Business Incubation, Strategy and Business Development, Wartsila; who participated in a discerning panel on how sustainable innovation is transforming the regional shipping industry.

Other topics that were presented in the session were “Ushering the era of connected, intelligent and efficient ports” by Mr. Matteo Natali, General Manager, Wartsila; “Enabling Qatari businesses and international companies in Qatar to grow” by Dr. Fabian Ezzat Engels, Senior Partner, Roland Berger; “Three complex challenges in SC that a digital platform can address”, by Mr. Bertrand Maltaverne, Solutions Consultant, Ivalua Inc., Austria

The Air Cargo session opened to a strategic presentation by Mr. Glyn Hughes, Global Head IATA Cargo, IATA, from Switzerland who spoke about Air Cargo Market Outlook 2019 and beyond; which was followed by a technologically laced topic “Accelerating digitization: Future-proofing the Air Cargo industry” which was presented by Mr. Turhan Özen, Chief Cargo Officer, Turkish Cargo; Mr. Guillaume Halleux, Chief Officer Cargo, Qatar Airways presented a highly engaging topic on “How Air

Freight Is Shaping Qatar's Economy” which was followed by an industry leaders panel on “Enabling Air Cargo Supply Chain Excellence through Digitization” which hosted Mr. Kunal Bhatt, Vice President Cargo Corporate Services, Qatar Cargo; Mr. Amadou Diallo, CEO, DHL Global Forwarding, Middle East & Africa and other regional leaders.

The day one of the event ended on a high note, with a promise of a very appealing and perceptive day two which will focus on the supply chain and logistics industry in Qatar.

I Love Qatar is proud to be the Official Digital Media Partner for this year's Qatar Trade Summit.

Source: Press release

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Binu Cherian

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