BUSINESSB | 13 SPORT | 20 VW to invest in Wimbledon: Agelessess Ford-backed Federer holds off Argo AI at $7bn Nadal to set up valuation Djokovic final Saturday 13 July 2019 | 10 Dhul-Qa'da 1440 www.thepeninsula.qa Volume 24 | Number 7951 | 2 Riyals Amir: US visit an important milestone QNA & THE PENINSULA countries have witnessed a great DOHA progress recently through bilateral strategic dialogue Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin meetings between the two Hamad Al Thani said in a tweet Today we concluded our visit to the U.S., which friendly countries. yesterday at the conclusion of marked an important milestone of the #QatarUSA H H the Amir had talks with his visit to the United States that partnership. It was a pleasure and an honor to meet with the Secretary of State of the it marked an important mile- all our friends in DC. United States, Mike Pompeo, on stone of the Qatar-US part- Wednesday, at H H the Amir’s nership. relations and the strategic part- the signing of an agreement residence in Washington, DC. The “Today we concluded our nership between the two coun- between Qatar Petroleum and meeting reviewed the strategic visit to the US, which marked an tries in various fields for the Chevron Phillips for the devel- bilateral relations and ways of important milestone of the benefit of the two friendly opment of an international petro- enhancing the partnership #QatarUSA partnership. It was peoples. chemical complex in the Gulf Coast between the two countries in a pleasure and an honour to During his successful official of the United States, and an various fields. meet all our friends in DC,” H H visit, H H the Amir and President agreement between Qatar Airways, H H the Amir also met with the Amir tweeted on Thursday Donald Trump discussed the and each of General Electric (GE) US Secretary of Commerce evening. strong bilateral strategic coop- and Boeing for the purchase of five Wilbur Ross and his accompa- H H the Amir left Washington eration relations and ways of Boeing 777 cargo planes and Gulf- nying delegation, Senator at the DC, after a four-day official visit promoting and enhancing them stream Aviation. United States Congress, Lindsey to the United States, yesterday. in various fields. On July 8, H H the Amir and Graham, Acting Secretary of H H the Amir sent a cable to Pres- The US President underlined the US President attended a Defence, Mark T Esper, Speaker ident of the US Donald Trump, that H H the Amir is a real leader dinner banquet hosted by the of the House of Representatives, expressing deep thanks and who is highly respected in an Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin Nancy Pelosi, Director of the appreciation for the hospitality important part of the world. The in honour of the Amir and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the honour accorded to him US President highlighted the role accompanying delegation. In the Gina Haspel, Chairman of the US and the accompanying dele- of Al Udeid Air Base and its stra- dinner, President Trump praised House Committee on Foreign gation during the visit. tegic importance in the Middle the friendship with H H the Amir. Affairs, Eliot Engel; Chair of the H H the Amir also expressed East, tapping it as one of the “Tamim, you’ve been a friend of US Senate Committee on Foreign satisfaction with his talks with biggest military bases in the mine for a long time, before I did Relations, Senator James Risch; US President and senior officials, world. this presidential thing, and we feel Chairman of the Armed Services which provided an opportunity H H the Amir and the US Pres- very comfortable with each other,” Committee of the US Senate, for exchanging views on the ident also witnessed the signing Trump said. Senator Jim Inhofe; Chairman of most important regional and of agreements and memoranda In turn, H H the Amir thanked the US House Permanent Select international issues of common of understanding (MoUs) between President Trump and Treasury Committee on Intelligence, Adam concern and also contributed to the two countries, at the White Secretary, stressing that the stra- Schiff among other high ranking the consolidation of bilateral House. The two leaders witnessed tegic relations between the two US officials. Qatar Cultural and Literature Festival ends on a high note US House votes to curb Trump THE PENINSULA engaging session on ‘Making a Aathem and Doha-based artist Question Associates Pvt. Ltd. organising team were of the DOHA Nation Read.’ Rashmi Agarwal, to name a few. Festival Director and award- same view, lauding the great powers to start Among the key features of “I am very excited to see this winning author Anamika Mishra, support extended to them in Qatar Cultural and Literature the two-day festival held at combination of two such rich who was in Doha for the first Doha. Iran war Festival concluded on a high note Katara Cultural Village were cul- cultures on the same platform. time, said she had fallen in love ‘The people of Doha are yesterday with the participation tural performances, panel dis- We did not just have speakers with the city and its people. really friendly and supportive. AFP/WASHINGTON of prominent luminaries such as cussions and book launches. from India but we also had “I felt privileged to direct this We didn’t face any problem famous Indian singer Mika Singh Organised in line with Qatar- speakers from Doha. Seeing festival as we got to see an inter- despite having different lan- The US House of Representa- and bestselling author Chetan India 2019 Year of Culture, the them having a conversation on esting amalgamation of two dif- guages and culture. I believe our tives voted yesterday to restrict Bhagat. festival brought the two coun- various important issues was ferent cultures on our platform. festival was all about the same. President Donald Trump’s ability The festival launched on tries closer through art and very interesting. We all are one It also feels great to see such a We come from diverse back- to attack Iran, voicing fear that Thursday with a concert by Singh culture with speakers coming at heart and with this festival we positive response from the grounds but that didn’t stop us his hawkish policies are pushing who enthralled the audience at from both countries including have shared our feelings and our people of Qatar for our show. We in communicating and towards a needless war. Katara Drama Theatre per- Bollywood actor Vindu Dara rich cultures with each other and had an amazing event with a exchanging ideas. With this fes- The Democratic-led House forming some of his hit songs Singh, acid attack survivor and got to know each other in a lovely audience from Doha,” said tival, we created a benchmark,” approved an amendment on a while Bhagat opened the second motivational speaker Laxmi better way,” said Ruhi Ganguly, Mishra. said Festival Producer Ankit broad defence bill that would day of the event with an Agarwal, Qatari artist Amal Al Festival Producer and CEO of Other members of the Satija. `P3 prohibit funding for military operations against Iran unless they are in self-defence or explicitly approved by Congress. Russian S-400 defence But a similar measure failed in the Senate, where Trump’s Republican Party holds the components arrive in Turkey majority. The two chambers will have to negotiate over the REUTERS against the dollar, before recovering language as they finalise the ISTANBUL somewhat, after the ministry announced defence bill. the arrival of the S-400 consignment. The Representative Ro Khanna, Turkey began taking delivery of an main Istanbul share index fell 2.13%. the Democrat who led the advanced Russian missile defence system Turkish broadcasters showed amendment, said the measure yesterday, a move expected to trigger US footage of huge Russian Air Force showed that the United States sanctions against a Nato ally and drive a AN-124 cargo planes offloading was fed up with war. “Frankly, wedge into the heart of the Western equipment at the air base. “Today three what it will prevent is what this military alliance. cargo planes arrived,” Defence Minister president promised to the The first parts of the S-400 air defence Hulusi Akar told state-owned Anadolu American people not to do — to system were flown to the Murted military news agency, adding that deliveries get into another endless, costly air base northwest of Ankara, the Turkish would continue in coming days. war in the Middle East,” he said Defence Ministry said, sealing Turkey’s deal A second delivery by air will take on the House floor. with Russia which Washington had place soon, Russia’s TASS news agency Trump, who walked out of a A Russian military cargo plane carrying S-400 missile defence system is seen at the struggled for months to prevent. quoted an unnamed military-diplomatic nuclear accord with Iran and Murted military airbase, also known as Akincilar millitary airbase in Ankara, yesterday. In the first comments from Wash- source as saying. A third delivery - of 120 instead slapped sweeping sanc- ington, acting Defence Secretary Mark guided missiles - will be carried out by tions, last month authorized a Esper said the US position on the issue ship at the end of the summer, the source “There will be more to follow after that United States did not plan to impose strike on the Islamic republic has not changed. The United States has said. Twenty Turkish servicemen received conversation,” he said. Turkey says the sanctions on Ankara for buying the after it shot down a US spy drone threatened to impose sanctions on Ankara, training from Russia in May-June and 80 system is a strategic defence requirement, S-400s.