BUSINESS | Page 1 QATAR | Page 16 Support for Italian fi rms eyeing Qatari market on track, says Local yards fl ush with envoy fresh farm products published in QATAR since 1978 SATURDAY Vol. XXXXI No. 11529 April 25, 2020 Ramadan 2, 1441 AH GULF TIMES www. gulf-times.com 2 Riyals Amir exchanges Ramadan greetings with Turkish leader, Omani deputy PM QNRF aims His Highness the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani exchanged greetings with Turkish to boost food President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan, in a telephone conversation yesterday evening. During the call, they reviewed the security, fi ght strategic relations between the two countries and the prospects for strengthening them, in addition to discussing the most prominent regional and international epidemics developments. His Highness the Amir also exchanged Ramadan greetings with Oman’s Deputy zQNRF to launch second cycle food security Prime Minister for the Council of Ministers, Fahad bin Mahmood to address production challenges al-Said, in a telephone conversation yesterday evening. The first Friday prayers of the holy month of Ramadan taking place yesterday at Imam Muhammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab Mosque under the stringent safety guidelines against Covid-19. By Joseph Varghese PM holds phone talk Staff Reporter with Kuwait premier HE the Prime Minister and Minister n a major bid to ensure food secu- of Interior Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa Friday prayers held exclusively rity and combat epidemics, Qatar bin Abdulaziz al-Thani held yesterday INational Research Fund (QNRF), a a telephone conversation with member of Qatar Foundation, in col- Kuwait’s Prime Minister Sheikh at Imam Muhammad mosque laboration with the Ministry of Mu- Sabah al-Khaled al-Hamad al-Sabah. nicipality and Environment (MME) Besides exchanging Ramadan will soon announce the second cycle greetings, they reviewed the solid of “Food Security Call” in four priority QNRF executive director Dr Abdul bilateral relations and the prospects he fi rst Friday prayers of the nounced that mosques will remain that it is not permissible to perform areas for the country. Sattar al-Taie. for strengthening them. holy month of Ramadan was closed for congregational prayers prayer by listening to radio, television “The new cycle aims to boost local Theld exclusively at Imam Mu- throughout the crisis until the health and other means of communication. food production in the priority areas, main focus areas of QNFS namely; local FM gets phone call hammad ibn Abdul-Wahhab Mosque and safety of the worshippers and Such prayers will be performed exclu- such as local supply chain; technol- food production with special empha- from India’s minister yesterday in the presence of only 40 public is guaranteed in co-operation sively at Imam Muhammad ibn Abdul- ogy to accelerate the development of sis on strengthening resilience among worshippers, including the imam and with the competent departments. Wahhab Mosque in the presence of the highly productive and healthy animals, people and agrifood systems, supply HE the Deputy Prime Minister and the mosque’s employees. However, the call of prayers will go imam and four of the mosque’s em- including combating epidemic dis- chain, policy and legislation, and com- Minister of Foreign Aff airs Sheikh While the sermon was given the on as people are encouraged to pray ployees, taking into account the health eases; technology to accelerate local munity initiative,” the offi cial said. Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani participating worshippers kept the at home their daily fi ve ritual prayers precautions directed by the Ministry production of high-quality vegetables; He said that in the fi rst cycle of the received yesterday a phone call designated physical distance from and gatherings are strictly forbidden of Public Health. and sustainable aquaculture,” Dr Ab- food security call, QNRF received 48 from Indian Minister of External one another. They wore face masks for the people’s safety and well-being Such unprecedented procedures, dul Sattar al-Taie, executive director, proposals. “A total of 46 of them were Aff airs Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. and gloves as well as part of the pre- until the situation is safe for this. In which have never been seen by many QNRF, told Gulf Times. proceeded through our stringent two- The call focused on discussing ventive and precautionary measures the meantime, the ministry added generations living now, are meant for QNRF had launched the fi rst cycle tier evaluation process. Out of these, bilateral relations and ways to co- in the wake of the novel coronavirus that taraweeh prayers (night prayers the protection of the people and to of this joint call in collaboration with nine proposals were awarded after a operate in containing the spread (Covid-19) spread across the world. performed during Ramadan) will be safeguard the public health, avoiding the MME in 2019 to address the grand competitive review process. Five of of coronavirus (Covid-19), besides The Ministry of Awqaf (Endow- broadcast to the public on television the potential risk factors imposed by challenge of food security in Qatar. the awards went to researchers at Qatar topics of mutual interest. ments) and Islamic Aff airs had an- and radio channels, with the assurance Covid-19. “We discussed the topics of research University, three to Hamad Bin Kha- at length with Dr Faleh al-Thani, As- lifa University and one to Texas A&M sistant Undersecretary of Agriculture University in Qatar. These winning 761 new Covid-19 and Fisheries Aff airs, and other experts proposals focused on a multitude of at the MME and agreed that the second themes including aquaculture, vegeta- cases; recovery cycle of our joint call should be more ble production, protected agriculture reaches 809 90% of Covid-19 patients recover quickly: offi cial focused on specifi c themes that address (greenhouse and hydroponics), and the the pillars of local food production of use of advanced technology to enhance The Ministry of Public Health round 90% of those infected of smokers and elderly people need the symptoms to immediately contact Qatar National Food Security Strategy local food production,” he revealed. (MoPH) yesterday announced the with the novel coronavirus longer times to recover from Cov- the medical team concerned while (QNFS),” explained Dr al-Taie. According to Dr al-Taie, each pro- registration of 761 confirmed new A(Covid-19) do not display any id-19,” he explained. strictly abiding by the precautionary “QNRF runs a diverse and rich port- posal tackles important aspects of food cases of coronavirus (Covid-19) in symptoms and often recover very “There is a very small percent- and preventive measures, most im- folio of funding programmes which sustainability in Qatar from several Qatar, the recovery of 59 cases. The quickly with little medical care, and age of people with weak immunity or portantly self-quarantine until taken falls under three main suites: com- angles. total number of those recovered rarely have any impacts of the disease chronic lung disease who need to have to the designated place for treatment. petitive funding research programmes, “In fact, topics such as aquaculture, has reached 809 in the country. after being fully recovered, a senior some time at the intensive care to re- The offi cial also stressed that those capacity building programmes, and re- local food production and the use of According to a MoPH statement, on offi cial said. cover, and it takes longer time with a newly diagnosed with Covid-19 search connection programmes, all of advanced technology are perfectly in off icial Qatar News Agency (QNA), Dr Al-Mubashir Abu Bakr Abdo, small percentage of them continuing should take care not to worry or panic which are run strictly on competitive line with the food security strategy most of the new cases are among head of the programme to combat to suff er from negative eff ects from because this would eventually impact basis to ensure quality and equal op- adopted by Qatar in 2018. The idea is to expatriate workers, most of whom communicable diseases at the Min- the disease. their immune system negatively and portunity,” Dr al-Taie noted. reduce reliance on import and increase in quarantine, after it was found that istry of Public Health, was talking to “The period of shedding of the vi- may cause the treatment process to “In order to address the grand chal- dependence on locally produced qual- they were in contact with confirmed Qatar TV yesterday about his per- rus outside the body after full recov- be longer. lenge of food security, QNRF launched ity food, making use of state-of-the- cases. All new infected cases have sonal experience of recovering from ery accordingly takes longer times He urged the families of Covid-19 a special call under TGRP (Thematic art facilities available in Qatar. This been put into isolation and are re- Covid-19. with severe cases and those with weak patients, the media and the clergy to and Grand Challenges Research Pro- ensures sustainability in the long run ceiving the necessary medical care. “Some with chronic disease such immunity system,” he pointed out. give all the due psychological support gramme) in collaboration with MME and eliminates risks related to avail- The MoPH stated that the notice- as respiratory diseases like shortness Dr Abdo advised the people who test to them during this time to boost their in 2019. This call invited researchers in ability, price fl uctuation, supply chain, able increase in the number of of breath, alongside diff erent types positive for Covid-19 or display any of morale and subsequently immunity. Qatar and abroad to address one of the and geopolitics,” he said. confirmed new cases of infection is due to several reasons, including that the spread of the virus has started to enter into the peak stage Iftar snacks ready to go (i.e.