insideJuly - August 2016this / Vol. 42issue / Issue 07 COVER STORY 36 HONOURING EXCELLENCE The second edition of the Qatar Today Business Excellence Awards pulled out all the stops as it once again celebrated the top-performing companies on the Qatar Stock Exchange last year while honouring some of the best and the brightest of Qatar’s private sector. 22 IN TRANSITION ERA: OIL TO RENEWABLES In an exclusive interview with Qatar Today, Narendra Taneja, India’s leading expert on energy issues, talks about Indo-Qatar ties and explains why countries can’t move away from fossil fuels “overnight”. 28 GET SET TO GO TO RIO Qatar Today engages in a conversation with the Chef de Mission of Qatar’s Olympic contingent to reveal some interesting behind-the-scenes information that the public is generally not privy to. 32 BREXIT: WHAT IT MEANS FOR THE GCC Now that the results are in, it’s time to examine the long-lasting consequences of the vote not just for Europe but beyond, including Gulf countries. insideJuly - August 2016this / Vol. 42 issue/ Issue 07 14 DEVELOPING A TOURISM 55 BEST IN CLASS In an interview with Qatar Today, Charly Dagher, General Manager ECOSYSTEM of Alfardan Sports Motors Company, talks about Maserati’s Qatar’s tourism sector has a bright, young energy that needs successful year. strategic support and experience, says Ashraf Abu Issa. 18 START-UP CULTURE ON THE RISE 58 A PLEASANT SURPRISE With an expanded space and a growing portfolio of programmes, Qatar Today test-drove SsangYong’s Tivoli over the weekend and the Qatar Science and Technology Park is an established fixture we ended up liking it way more than we expected. This youthful in Qatar’s burgeoning start-up culture. machine truly packs a punch both in the city and out on the highway. 26 BREXIT TREMORS ACROSS 61 YOUR PERSONAL GENIE THE ATLANTIC Dubbed the “Wish Fulfillment Empire”, Quintessentially Lifestyle Clinton must stop Trump rom framing the US election as single- leverages the strength of its global network to make wishes come issue claim-your-country-back referendum-style vote. true for its high net worth clients – no matter how impossible they may seem. 52 THE SPORTING ANGLE Setting aside the oil woes-induced slowdown, Qatar has now found the right momentum to upgrade its sports infrastructure, ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup. and regulars 08 NEWS BITES 11 O&G OVERVIEW 12 BANK NOTES 13 REALTY CHECK 64 TECH TALK 66 AUTO NEWS 68 MARKET WATCH 70 DOHA DIARY PUBLISHER & EDITOR IN CHIEF YOUSUF BIN JASSIM AL DARWISH MANAGING DIRECTOR JASSIM BIN YOUSUF AL DARWISH MANAGER DR. FAISAL FOUAD EDITORIAL MANAGING EDITOR SINDHU NAIR DEPUTY EDITOR IZDIHAR IBRAHIM SENIOR CORRESPONDENTS AYSWARYA MURTHY UDAYAN NAG KARIM EMAM CORRESPONDENTS AARTHI MOHAN KEERTANA KODURU ART SENIOR ART DIRECTOR VENKAT REDDY DEPUTY ART DIRECTOR HANAN ABU SAIAM ASSISTANT ART DIRECTOR AYUSH INDRAJITH SENIOR GRAPHIC DESIGNER MAHESHWAR REDDY PHOTOGRAPHER ROBERT F ALTAMIRANO MARKETING & SALES MANAGER SAKALA DEBRASS TEAM SONY VELLATT DENZITA SEQUIERA MATHEWS CHERIAN ANIS MANSOURI IRFAAN A H M NISHAD N P EVENTS OFFICER JASMINE VICTOR ACCOUNTANT PRATAP CHANDRAN DISTRIBUTION DEPARTMENT BIKRAM SHRESTHA ARJUN TIMILSINA BHIMAL RAI BASANTA POKHREL PRADEEP BHUSAL PUBLISHED BY ORYX PUBLISHING & ADVERTISING CO WLL P.O. Box 3272; Doha-Qatar Tel: (+974) 44550983, 44671173, 44667584 Fax: (+974) 44550982 Email: [email protected] website: www.omsqatar.com Printed at: Al Waraq Printing Press Copyright © 2016 Oryx Publishing & Advertising Co WLL from the desk This summer has been sleepy and hot for Doha-ites. With Qatar Today coming out with a joint issue for the summer instead of the separate July and August editions, our office premises too witnessed a significant lull in its activities. But the world witnessed historic upheavals. Starting with the Brexit in June, followed by the terror strikes in Nice, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Munich, the world seems to have lost its humanity. On one side, as the citizens of the world shared news instantly across the Internet space, sympathising and debating about the perils of terrorism in Europe, on the other side, countries across the world showed how less tolerant the populace is becoming. The Dallas shooting that killed five police officers was a reaction to the rising number of black civilians killed by the US police. The more we bring the world together through collaborations and migration, the more there is segregation and intolerance. Is migration the motive for rising terrorism, as the majority in Britain and many countries within the EU rationalises? Talking about the connection between migration and the rise in terrorism, Thomas de Maiziére, the German Minister of Interior, feels that no hit teams from abroad have made a terrorist attack in Europe or America; there has instead been more home-grown terrorism. “They went to our schools, they did sports together with our kids, they went to our mosques, and they were radicalised in our neighbourhoods. This, of course, is a matter of concern. How can this happen?” What is the role of the Internet, what is the role of the Internet providers, and how can it be that the ways of radicalisation remained undetected? THOMAS DE MAIZIÉRE Minister of Interior In Qatar Today’s double issue we discuss Brexit, and we talk to the Chef de Mission of Germany Qatar’s Olympic contingent who reveals some interesting behind-the-scenes information that the public is generally not privy to. We once again put the focus on leaders and leadership skills; skills that steer the people towards a nation that underpins its success on education and peace. For a country that has a larger expatriate population than nationals, governance and security are of the utmost importance. SINDHU NAIR Managing Editor affairs > local EID GETS UNDERWAY HH THE EMIR SHEIKH TAMIM BIN HAMAD AL THANI AND HH THE FATHER EMIR SHEIKH HAMAD BIN KHALIFA AL THANI RECEIVE VISITORS AND WELL-WISHERS ON THE OCCASION OF EID AL FITR. Pictures courtesy: Qatar News Agency QATAR AIRWAYS ANNOUNCES PROFITS, NEW PLANS Qatari hospitality at the Olympics During the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, “Bayt Qatar” will bring the soul of Qatar to the heart of Rio at the iconic heritage site and former museum, Casa Daros. The space “will provide a stunning setting to bridge sport, education, culture and diversity in a true celebration of Olympism”, Qatar Olympic Committee has said. The QOC, its partners and stakeholders will come together to create a journey of Qatar’s history, traditions and development into a global sports hub through innovative and interactive exhibitions, an outdoor Souq and a full entertainment and activity programme. In The national carrier made its annual financial order to give visitors the best possible experience, the QOC has signed MOUs with several Qatari organisations. These include: Education Above performance public for the first time, after All, who will organise a Garangao night for children from local Brazilian favelas; the ICSS, who will organise a special event for their Save the Dream promising to do so for many years. charity; and Qatar Foundation, Al Shaqab, Qatar Museums, Katara, Doha Film Institute, Aspire, Aspetar, We Are Doha, the Supreme Committee for atar Airways made a net profit of QR1.6 billion ($439 million) Delivery and Legacy and the ADLQ, who will all contribute films, photos and content to help showcase the very best of Qatar. during its fiscal year ending March 31, 2016, more than four times higher than its 2014-15 profit of QR374 million ($103 Qmillion). This has largely been due to falling oil prices, Qatar Airways said. Prior to this, the airliner announced the finalizing of plans with Alisarda to take an ownership stake in Italy’s second largest airline, Meridiana. In a statement, Qatar Airways said it will buy 49% of the carrier’s shares by early October. CEO Akbar Al Baker said, “This agreement sets the path to progress our work towards a strong resolution that benefits both the staff and passengers who travel with Meridiana.” 10 > QATAR TODAY > JULY - AUGUST 2016 QEERI DISCOVERS THREE NEW PLANETS Scientists at the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) announced the discovery of three new extrasolar planets (exoplanets), found using optical Earth-based telescopes. he discovery was made as part of the (the largest planet in our solar system), ongoing Qatar Exoplanet Survey which are located very close to their (QES) that is funded by the Qatar host star and, due to this proximity, have TNational Research Fund. The team temperatures that range between 1,200 identified the new exoplanets using and 3,000 degrees Celsius. Hot Jupiters tens of thousands of images collected typically take about one to 10 Earth days by the dedicated QES telescopes in New for a full orbit around their host star as “a Mexico (USA), Tenerife (Spain) and year” on the hot Jupiters lasts only 1-10 Urumqi (China). Following an agreement Earth days. The three new exoplanets have with the International Astronomical sizes between 1 and 1.5 times that of Jupiter Union (IAU), the three new planets are (12 to 17 times larger than the Earth) and officially named Qatar-3b, Qatar-4b temperatures between 1,400 and 1,700 and Qatar-5b. Exoplanets are planets Celsius, completing full orbits around their orbiting around other stars, outside of stars in times ranging between 1.8 and the Earth’s solar system. The three newly 2.9 Earth days. The distances to the new discovered exoplanets belong to a category planets were calculated to be in the order of astronomers call “hot Jupiters”, planets 1,400 to 1,800 light years away, where a light that are in size similar to that of Jupiter year is equal to 10 trillion kilometers.