Two months into the Arab boycott, Iranian and Turkish troops were deployed to Doha to defend Qatar’s “vital facilities.”
According to experts on Turkish-Qatari relations, Qatar is believed to be doubling its investments in Turkey in 2018 to amount to $20 billion by injecting new investments worth $19 billion; in addition to the existing $18 billion investments in various fields including tourism, energy, telecommunications, food industry, health, insurance, banking, and military industries.
For his part, President of the Middle East Economic Forum Arden Ozil said that that Turkish market serves as a safe haven for Qatari investments, especially in light of the continued economic embargo imposed on Qatar from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain since June 5.
Given the food crisis that hit Qatar in the wake of the air and economic embargo imposed on it by neighboring Arab countries, Ozil concurred that Doha had to expand its investment in the food sectors in Turkey; citing Qatari-led Hassad Food plans to increase its investment in Turkey in 2018 to $650 million.
Speaking of the Qatar-based new industrial zone, Ozil claimed that it will be thoroughly operated by Turkish investors with Qatari fund amounting to $2.5 billion.
He confirmed that Istanbul will receive the Gulf funds next April as part of the International Agricultural Investment Summit. Turkey has 121 companies funded with Qatari capital; the capital amounting to $5 billion.