Tag: Qatar

Qatar Military Officials Set to Visit West Virginia

Updated on Tuesday, May 15, 2018 at 11:55 a.m.

West Virginia officials welcomed a military contingent from Qatar as part of a security and economic partnership Monday.

U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin said in a statement the Qatar officials toured the West Virginia National Guard’s 130th Air Wing in Charleston.

The visit is part of the National Guard’s State Partnership Program. Gov. Jim Justice also will host the group at the state Capitol.

The statement says the partnership will help train Qatar security forces in preparation for hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament.

From Sen. Joe Manchin, after the meeting Monday: “I was so honored to finally welcome Brig Gen Yousef Al Kuwari, Col Mohamed Al Manai, Col Khalid Al Naimi, and Ms. Sarah El-Zeini to West Virginia today to discuss our new partnership and future economic opportunities for our state and Qatar. I worked with the Department of Defense and the West Virginia National Guard to secure our State Partnership Program with Qatar and this visit has been a long time in the works. I believe very strongly this partnership will blossom and lead to economic opportunities that will help diversify our economy and I look forward to working together.”

The statement says Qatar has invested $50,000 in Reconnecting McDowell. That project led by the American Federation of Teachers aim to improve opportunities in impoverished McDowell County.

Qatar Looking to Invest in W.Va., Starts with $50k for Reconnecting McDowell

A country that has already invested more than $12 billion in the United States sent its ambassador to West Virginia Friday looking for possible future investments in the Mountain State.

Qatar Ambassador to the U.S. Mohammed Al-Kuwari was invited and escorted on the visit by Sen. Joe Manchin, making stops at the Advanced Technical Center at BridgeValley Community and Technical College, Dow Chemical, and meeting with Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin.

Al-Kuwari said his country has already made a commitment to invest more than $35 billion in the U.S. over the next several years in the energy sector as well as in technology, real estate, tourism and education, and Sen. Manchin wants at least some of those dollars to come to West Virginia.

It’s not solely about financial investment, though, according to Manchin. The Senator said the economies of the two states, so to speak, are very similarly, both heavily invested in the engery sector.

What Qatar has done though, Manchin said, is moved beyond just extraction, bringing manufacturing in to product value-added products from the natural resources they extract. That includes building ethane cracker plants, an industry investment West Virginia has been searching for for years.

Manchin hopes the country will invest in West Virginia, but also form a partnership with the state, helping to guide its economy.

“We’re not looking just for someone to write a check,” he said during a press conference at the Capitol. “We’re looking for someone to come into this marketplace and understand the value of the market and understand realistically what type of an investment it takes, the risks that are involved and the rewards that can come from it.”

An investment team from Qatar travels to the U.S. twice a year, and has for the past fifteen years Al-Kuwari estimated. The next planned trop is for September and Manchin said he’ll work with West Virginia to ensure the state has a specific proposal for those investors to look at.

In the meantime, Al-Kuwari has invited the Senator, Gov. Tomblin and members of West Virginia’s business sector to travel to Qatar to meet some of these potential investors and tour the country.

Al-Kuwari also announced Friday the country has donated $50,000 to Reconnecting McDowell, a partnership between the state Department of Education, private businesses, unions and education organizations focused on bringing higher quality education to McDowell County.

Sen. Manchin’s wife, state Board of Education President Gayle Manchin, heads that initiative.

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