Qatar stands to gain politically, socially, economically and more importantly commercially in the long run, by being a perfect host to a plethora of meetings, conferences and exhibitions at its array of world-class hospitality facilities, said Deputy Prime Minister HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah. The deputy premier said this during an interaction with journalists after declaring open the four-day Sports Congress & Exhibition at Aspire Dome yesterday. The event, attended by a number of sport personalities, entrepreneurs, and other professionals from different fields of activities, is being hosted for the second successive year. Speaking to journalists, HE al-Attiyah said with the hosting of such events as the Sports Congress, the country’s name and fame would reach every corner of the world. Qatar has proved in the last one decade that it has facilities to host major international events impeccably, he said. The former energy and industry minister said the country would continue to host events of even greater magnitude and more of such major conferences on the lines of Sport Congress are in the pipeline. Qatar, he said, has been a business friendly nation over the years and this has helped the country attract a lot of international investors. While there is no doubt that the country is a major hub of sport activities of international standards at the regional level, with the successful bid to host the 2022 Fifa World Cup, Qatar has also demonstrated that it is emerging as a globally acknowledged sport centre, said the Deputy Prime Minister. The country, he said, would witness a series of sport related infrastructure building in the next few years as part of its preparedness for the 2022 extravaganza. While hailing the country’s keenness to substantially develop its sport infrastructure in the coming years, al-Attiyah expressed the hope that the Congress would contribute remarkably to accelerate the pace of development in facilitating sport infrastructure of international standards. Besides entrepreneurs and CEOs of companies undertaking sport infrastructure works, the conference and exhibition has also attracted a number of others who contributed to the successful bid of Qatar for the Fifa World Cup last year. In the next three days, an array of discussions focusing on sport development in the region, and in particular in Qatar would take place. Besides infrastructure companies, different sport associations and the region’s Olympic committees are participating in the exhibition. Katara, the Cultural Village in Qatar has also set up a pavilion at the venue. Earlier, soon after the inauguration, the Qatar Deputy Prime Minister made a tour of the exhibition venue. http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?cu_no=2&item_no=469724&version=1&template_id=36&parent_id=16

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