Doha, 10 November, 2008: Under the patronage of H.E Sheikh Fahad Bin Jassim Al Thani, Minister of Business and Trade, the GSDP and the World Bank will organize a "Doing Business" seminar in Doha on 17 November. The seminar will discuss the key findings of the "Doing Business 2009" report. It will also provide a venue for identification of areas for action and improvement.

Qatar debuted in the annual "Doing Business 2009" report. The report provides quantitative indicators of business regulations and evaluates regulations that directly affect the ability of business to grow, create jobs and identifies good regulatory reform practices. The report ranks Qatar 37^th out of 181 countries. Within the MENA region Qatar is in the fourth out of 19 countries. All in all Qatar performs well and is not far behind the OECD average but some areas of weakness exist, including access to credit.

The one day seminar "Comparing Business regulations in 181 economies" will explain these findings and identify possible ways in which Qatar could make improvements.

"Doing Business 2009" report was released in the beginning of September by the International Finance Corporation (IFC)International Finance Corporation (IFC), the private sector arm of the World Bank Group. In Qatar, General Secretariat for Development Planning (GSDP) coordinated the survey closely with the IFCIFC. The data, methodology, and the names of contributors are publicly available online at www.doingbusiness.org.

The "Doing Business" seminar will be joined by Ms. Dahlia Khalifa, a Senior Private Sector Development Specialist at the World Bank, by GSDP's top management and policymakers and business leaders from the public and private sector.

Media Information:

You're invited to a seminar on the recently launched report: "Doing Business 2009"

DATE: Monday, 17 November, 2008

TIME: 10 am. - 12.30 pm.

VENUE: La Cigale Hotel, Doha, Qatar

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Any further questions please contact:
Elina Lehtinen 589 5016
Ali Suleiman 669 6655

© Press Release 2008