DOHA - The Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (QCCI) picked a new board of directors yesterday through an electoral process. The board has for the first time in the Chamber's history a woman member and it chose Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassem bin Mohamed Al Thani as chairman immediately after the poll outcome was announced.
Abdul Aziz Al Emadi, who won unanimously earlier, was confirmed as vice-chairman. He retains the slot.
Mohamed Ahmed Tawar Al Kuwari, from the agriculture committee, was chosen secretary of the QCCI.
That Sheikh Khalifa would be chairman was clear even before the election was held since he headed the strongest panel that won yesterday's poll hands down. The outgoing chairman of the QCCI, Mohamed Khalid Al Mana, and his successor, Sheikh Khalifa bin Jassem bin Mohamed Al Thani casting their votes at the board election yesterday. (Abdul Basit)
He bagged the largest number of votes of 2, 119 out of a total of 2,394 ballots cast. He was a candidate for the contracting committee.
There were 11 contestants for the five-member trading committee and those who won were: Adel Abdul Rahman Eisa Al Mannai, Abdul Rahman Abdul Jaleel Abdul Ghani Nasser Al Abdulghani, Abdul Razzak Mohamed Raviya Al Siddiqui, Rashid Hamad Huja Hamad Al Azba and Mohamed Johar Al Mohamed.
For the four-member contracting committee, aside from Sheikh Khalifa, those who were victorious were Nasser Ahmed Mohamed Al Meer, Rashed Nasser Rashed Seraiya Al Kaabi and Abdul Aziz Ibrahim Rida Ridwan.
For the one-member tourism committee there were three contestants and the winner was Saeed Rashid Saeed Al Hajri. All the winners were from Sheikh Khalifa's panel.
There are in all seven committees in the QCCI and 17 members of the board. While 10 were elected for the above three committees, the remaining seven for four other committees (services, agriculture, banking and industrial) were chosen unanimously since they had no challengers.
The lone woman member of the QCCI board, Ibtehag Al Ahmedani, said her priority will be to ensure that female members of the Chamber attend all its meetings.
The QCCI first held its annual general meeting (AGM) presided over by the outgoing chairman, Mohamed Khalid Al Mana. The quorum was 54 per cent, four per cent more than the required fifty.
He tabled the financial results for 2005 and recounted the achievements of the Chamber over the past four years. He said the Chamber had shifted into a new and massive building during his tenure and 83 foreign business delegations had paid visits during the period.
The election committee headed by Mubarak Al Khalifa later took over charge and put a ballot box with eligible voters to cast their ballots. The committee later announced the results.
This was the largest turnout of voters at the QCCI, Ibrahim Fakhroo, the director general, told this newspaper.
© The Peninsula 2006
