Emir calls for self-reliance in national security, economy, food and medicine

Emir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani chaired a part of the Cabinet’s regular meeting at its Emiri Diwan premises yesterday. The Deputy Emir H H Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad Al Thani attended the session.

The Emir spoke about the future directions of Qatar in light of the current crisis. “To us and to everyone, Qatar in June 2017 is different from Qatar in the past. We are proud of our history, but what happened in June 2017 has strengthened us and pushed us to work more for the country,” the Emir said.

The Emir stressed the importance of the next phase as well as the need to continue progressing towards achieving Qatar National Vision 2030 and implementing Qatar’s major development projects at the same pace as before and with the optimum quality expected from Qatar’s projects. The Emir also stressed the importance of self-reliance in terms of national security, economy, food and medicine.

In his speech to the cabinet, the Emir reaffirmed what he said in his address to the citizens and residents of Qatar on July 21, stressing the importance of investing in the positive spirit, solidarity and motivation in giving and achievement, which have characterised Qatar’s citizens and residents during the Gulf crisis, in order to become the approach and standard on which Qatar’s future work is based.

The Emir also stressed the importance of promoting and encouraging the continuity of teamwork and cooperation shown by all the citizen and residents during this stage. The Emir directed the ministers to prioritise the focus on domestic efforts in the coming phase and strengthen the national internal fronts in the economic, security, health and educational fields.

In the field of economy and investment and the importance of diversifying sources of income, the Emir directed that the laws related to that field be reviewed and implemented as soon as possible and that spending be rationalised in next year’s budget without affecting Qatar’s main development projects and their quality.

In this regard, the Emir thanked the ministers for their hard work and efforts during the crisis, stressing to them the importance of keeping up the spirit of challenge and achievement so as to accomplish Qatar’s policy and future plans to be self-reliant.

The Emir reiterated the remarks that he made in his speech regarding the State of Qatar’s readiness to resolve the Gulf crisis through dialogue and that if there was an effort to reach an agreement, it should include all parties and with neither dictations nor interference in the national sovereignty and internal affairs of any country. The cabinet stressed that the clear and wise directives of the Emir and the concepts and ideas included in them will act as a working program for the government in the next phase, which requires mobilisation of energies and self-reliance.