São Paulo — Qatar, an Arab Gulf country, has been hosting a series of global conferences and events annually, a trend largely driven by the experience and visibility gained from the 2022 FIFA World Cup it hosted. Visitor entry facilitations developed for the tournament have become valuable assets for Qatar as a venue for major events.
From Tuesday (20) to Thursday (22), Doha hosted the Qatar Economic Forum, held in partnership with Bloomberg, Qatari state news agency QNA reported. Speaking to QNA on the sidelines of the forum, Mubarak bin Ajlan Al Kuwari, CEO of the Permanent Committee for Organizing Conferences (PCOC) at Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said his country has solidified its position as a global capital for major conferences and events.
Al Kuwari spoke about improvements made since the country hosted the World Cup, such as the adoption of international event participant registration through the Hayya portal, which allows obtaining both an entry visa and event access with a single registration. According to the director, this was an organizational legacy of the World Cup, and the same system was used, for example, for the Qatar Economic Forum.
There are also facilitation measures for those who want to hold international conferences in Qatar. Al Kuwari said the improvements have extended to all logistical operations involved in hosting and organizing conferences, as well as in standardizing the level of service provided to guests, whether they are heads of state, government officials, or state guests.
According to the executive director, the PCOC committee organizes more than 30 conferences per year. Last year, however, that number was significantly higher, with over 80 events held, as Qatar held the presidency of the 44th Session of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a bloc made up of Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates.
Al Kuwari believes that Doha will host more global conferences in the coming years. He also said that Qatar’s exceptional tourist assets and advanced infrastructure help attract visitors and participants to conferences and events, citing hotels, resorts, parks, and more, as well as Hamad International Airport and Qatar Airways, which operates flights to more than 170 destinations.
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Translated by Guilherme Miranda
