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DOHA: The Gulf Cooperation Council – a trade bloc of six Arab states – is expected to spend US$1 trillion in planned public and private projects over the next six years.
And Singapore companies are keen to work with their Qatari counterparts to explore joint ventures, said Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong on Thursday.
This is evident in the signing of several agreements at the inaugural Qatar-Singapore Business Forum.
The Doha North Sewage Treatment Plant is set to be the largest wastewater treatment and reuse facility in the Middle East when it is ready in 2010.
The scale of the development is equivalent to the size of three housing estates – Bishan, Toa Payoh and Ang Mo Kio. It can treat up to 439,000 cubic metres of wastewater a day for irrigation needs, serving a population of 900,000.
Keppel Seghers, the environmental engineering division of Keppel Corporation, was selected to build and operate the US$1 billion (S$1.5 billion) project for ten years.
Mr Goh said this is an example of how Qatar could tap on Singapore's strength in infrastructural development. However, he added that cooperation should not be limited to bilateral arrangements.
He told business leaders the two countries can act as gateways to their respective regions.
He said: "Asia is the engine of global growth. Just China and India together would account for over 40 percent of global GDP growth in 2007. By 2020, Asia's share of world GDP is expected to be 45 percent, up from the current 36 percent.
"This is why we are cautiously optimistic that Asia will be able to weather the current turmoil in the global financial markets and the possibility of an economic recession in the US."
For Qatari companies wishing to expand to Asia, Mr Goh said Singapore offers excellent connectivity to the region with extensive air and sea links. Singapore's knowledge about Asia and the network of international firms in the city state will also value add.
The senior minister said the establishment of a single integrated market within ASEAN by 2015 also augurs well for Asia's future, particularly for joint ventures in China and Vietnam.
Three agreements were signed at the business forum. One of them is the Qatar Investment Authority's acceptance of Keppel Corporation's invitation to be an equity investor in the Tianjin Eco-City project in China.
The other agreements seek to deepen business links and help Qatar develop its small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
Speaking at the forum, Qatari Finance Minister Yousef Hussein Kamal said relations between the two countries have developed very well and the Gulf state is now ready to cast its net wider to attract foreign investments.
- CNA/so
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