Qatar has an estimated total population of 1.7 million, around 310,000 of whom are Qatar nationals. The population is currently growing at a rate of 2.7 %. The country possesses large reserves of oil and gas, and thanks to this wealth has experienced many years of strong economic growth.

One of the many internal challenges the country faces is the government’s policy of ‘Qatarisation’. This is an effort to raise the proportion of nationals working in private and public enterprises over the coming years, and thereby to gradually reduce the number of foreigners employed. The business activities which have developed in the past between GTZ International Services (IS) and Qatar should also be viewed in this context. Technical cooperation between GTZ IS and Qatar first began in May 1999, when GTZ provided advisory services to the Ministry of Education. In the course of the national education reform carried out by the Supreme Education Council, this cooperation has since expanded to include consulting services for general education schools during their transition from public to privately-run institutions. This reform is intended to improve the quality of basic education sustainably.

Alongside our work in the education sector, we are also carrying out activities and procurement tasks in the water and environment sectors. Ongoing projects relate to the production and refinery plants of Qatar Petroleum. In the areas surrounding the company’s installations, we are measuring levels of oil pollution in the groundwater and planning rehabilitation measures. Moreover, in 2009 we produced a study on the use of the Umm Er- Radhuma aquifer as a source of drinking water (commissioned by the Ministry of Environment and Maersk Oil Qatar).

Growing public pressure and the need to protect natural resources will lead to continued expansion of German-Qatar cooperation in the fields of water and the environment.

Early in 2010, at the request of the Qatar Government, GTZ IS agreed to help Qatar establish its own domestic agricultural sector and food production system. The relevant project agreement has not yet been signed.

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