BUSINESS | Page 1 SPORT | Page 1 Federer makes short work of INDEX DOW JONES QE NYMEX QATAR 2-8, 16 COMMENT 22, 23 Qatar Airways Cargo Nadal to win REGION 10 BUSINESS 1-7, 14-16 22,830.00 8,341.11 51.45 ARAB WORLD 10 CLASSIFIED 8-14 launches Pittsburgh’s +32.00 -0.98 +0.85 INTERNATIONAL 11-21 SPORTS 1-8 Shanghai title +0.14% -0.01% +1.68% fi rst freighter service Latest Figures published in QATAR since 1978 MONDAY Vol. XXXVIII No. 10608 October 16, 2017 Muharram 26, 1439 AH GULF TIMES www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals Emir arrives in Kuala Lumpur New body In brief QATAR | Offi cial to address Emir condoles with Somalia’s president His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and His Highness the Deputy Emir Sheikh Abdullah bin concerns Hamad al-Thani sent yesterday cables of condolences to Somalia President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo on the victims of the double explosion in Mogadishu. HE the Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah of dryland bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani sent a similar cable to Prime Minister Hassan Ali Khayre. They wished a speedy recovery to the injured. Pages 2, 11 QATAR | Tourism On-arrival tourist countries visa conditions eased By Joseph Varghese “In compliance with Qatar’s commit- Hotel reservations or other conditions Staff Reporter/QNA ment as an active partner in the inter- are not compulsory for obtaining national community came the initiative diff erent types of on-arrival tourist of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim visas in Qatar, the Ministry of Interior atar will handle the operational bin Hamad al-Thani in his speech ad- (MoI) said yesterday. However, visitors budget of the Global Dryland dressed at the 68th UN General Assem- His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani arrived in Kuala Lumpur yesterday evening for a two-day visit to may be asked to provide the address QAlliance (GDA) for two years bly in September 2014 to establish a glo- Malaysia. The Emir and the accompanying delegation were welcomed upon arrival at Kuala Lumpur International Airport of their place of stay in Qatar, the MoI and the cost of hosting the headquar- bal alliance for dryland nations.” by Malaysia’s Minister of Defence Hishammuddin Hussein, Malaysia’s Minister of International Trade and Industry Mustapa explained in a post on social media, ters in Doha, HE the Prime Minister and “His Highness the Emir, in co-op- Mohamed, Qatar’s ambassador to Malaysia Issa Mohamed al-Mannai and members of the Qatari embassy in Kuala Lumpur. As adding that general conditions for Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin eration and co-ordination with states part of his state visits to several Asian countries, the Emir will also visit Singapore and Indonesia. Pages 2, 22 getting on-arrival tourist visas are Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani announced and global organisations, called for six months’ passport validity and a yesterday. this alliance to specialise in guarantee- confirmed return or onward ticket. He was inaugurating the GDA found- ing food security to benefi t more than Qatar recently introduced diff erent ing conference held under the patronage three billion people living on drylands types of visas, including on-arrival of His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim and spread throughout 50 nations visas, e-authorisation and e-visas. bin Hamad al-Thani. Several ministers around the world,” HE Sheikh Abdullah Qatar embassy and delegates from a number of dryland continued. Qatar ‘most attractive’ BRITAIN | Weather countries around the world attended. At He added that the Emir has confi rmed Rare north hurricane the event, the founding treaty of the GDA the GDA will neither be a substitute for building hit in heads for Ireland, UK was signed by the participating delega- already established global organisations market for investors tion heads. nor a competitor and it will complement Britain and Ireland braced yesterday HE Sheikh Abdullah called on the in- their eff orts to achieve food security. Somalia blast for a lashing from Ophelia, the largest ternational community including coun- HE the Prime Minister highlighted QNA was led by HE al-Emadi, and included hurricane ever recorded so far east tries and organisations to support this the importance of looking into the QNA Doha HE the Governor of Qatar Central Bank in the Atlantic Ocean, after it dumped alliance and contribute to its trust fund treatment of deteriorated land as a mat- Doha Sheikh Abdullah bin Saoud al-Thani heavy rains on Portugal’s Azores to ensure its continuity and guarantee ter of high priority to face many global and members of Qatar’s fi nancial sector. islands. As the storm passed near its capability to provide benefi t to all. obstacles. atar remains one of the most at- During the sessions, US private and the Azores archipelago on Saturday “The signing of the treaty is a rec- “The situation is becoming more E the Director of the Informa- tractive markets for investors, governmental representatives were given it was classed Category 3, which ognition by the member states that the complicated for more than 50 dryland tion Offi ce at the Ministry of Qwith favourable investment op- an in-depth insight into Qatar’s resilient means it packed winds of at least dryland nations are exposed to serious nations listed by the UN, with a large HForeign Aff airs ambassador portunities across key sectors, HE the fi nancial and banking sector. Discussions 178kph (110mph). Though cooler seas risks due to global climate change, pop- number of world population living in Ahmed bin Saeed al-Rumaihi said that Minister of Finance Ali Sherif al-Emadi also focused on the continuing and grow- will weaken the storm as it churns ulation growth and economic and social them under poor water resources, dete- the building of Qatar’s embassy in the has said. ing opportunities for US investors and towards the west coast of Ireland, it disruptions,” he highlighted. rioration of arable areas, spread of pov- Somali capital Mogadishu has been se- In a press statement issued by the businesses in Qatar, and bilateral trade re- still has enough power to damage HE Sheikh Abdullah said that the ini- erty and famine; all leading to political verely damaged by the explosion of a car Ministry of Finance on the occasion lations between the two countries. buildings and provoke “dangerous” sea tiative of the GDA was the commitment and social instability, migration, home- bomb near the embassy building on the of Qatar’s participation in the annual The governor of the QCB said that the conditions as well as potential flooding, of Qatar towards world community. lessness and loss of hope in homelands K5 Junction on Saturday evening. meetings of the International Monetary siege imposed by neighbouring coun- Irish authorities said. Page 15 and forces poor countries to depend on Al-Rumaihi said that the Ministry of Fund and the World Bank in Washington tries on Qatar since last June has not ad- humanitarian aids.” Foreign Aff airs contacted the embassy DC, HE the minister said “recent meas- versely aff ected the nation’s economic EUROPE | Politics He said that Qatar gives utmost im- to check on the Qatari diplomats and ures introduced by our government aim fundamentals. Austrian ‘whizz-kid’ portance to achieve environmental the managers, as well as the rest of the to support continued investment and “The Qatar Central Bank took time- protection, diversify food resources as embassy staff , adding that the charge promote incentives for private compa- ly and decisive action in mitigating in election triumph a strategic choice within the Qatar Na- d’aff aires was slightly injured in the ex- nies and international investors looking the impact on banks’ balance sheets Austria’s political “whizz-kid” Sebastian tional Vision 2030 and its overall na- plosion but he is now in a good health, to expand to the region”. through liquidity injection and increas- Kurz was on course yesterday to tional strategy. and the rest of staff are fine. The minister said: “Qatar’s budget ing public sector deposits when the become Europe’s youngest leader, He also stressed that handling de- Meanwhile, Qatar condemned the defi cit is expected to decline over the blockade was imposed,” he said. “Mac- potentially in coalition with the far-right sertifi cation, land deterioration and double bombings in Mogadishu, which next few years, and economic prospects roprudential indicators for the banking after its best result in almost 20 years. drought exceeds the capacity of many killed hundreds of people and injured remain promising.” sector remain healthy,” the central bank Kurz’s conservative People’s Party countries that suff er from these prob- dozens others, destroyed several build- “Qatar and the US have long enjoyed a governor added. (OeVP) won 31.7% of the vote, followed lems and the global community must ings and set dozens of vehicles on fi re. strong and mutually benefi cial relation- Qatar remains one of the largest trad- by Chancellor Christian Kern’s Social provide all the support to them. An offi cial source at the Foreign Min- ship, and our attendance at the annual ing partners of the US in the Middle East Democrats (SPOe) on 26.9%, projections HE Sheikh Abdullah said establish- istry stressed Qatar’s solidarity with meetings of the IMF and World Bank region, with imports increasing by 29% that were broadly in line with preliminary HE the Prime Minister and Interior ing the GDA and adding it to the UN the Somali government, affi rming that was an opportunity to further strength- in 2016.