Stephan Weil, Prime Minister of the Federal State of Lower Saxony, Germany, will visit Doha on December 1 and 2, the German embassy announced yesterday.
Lower Saxony in the north of Germany is home to the world’s largest car manufacturer Volkswagen AG, and takes pride in its long-standing and close ties with Qatar and its political leadership, according to a statement. 
“Not only is Qatar one of the major stakeholders of Volkswagen AG and, according to the Prime Minister, a “very constructive and reliable partner for the company”, but many other companies based in Lower Saxony boast of excellent business relations with Qatar, too,” underlined German ambassador to Qatar Hans-Udo Muzel, who also expressed his thanks to the Government of Qatar for having prepared a high-level political and business program for the delegation of the Prime Minister.
Close to 40 companies from Lower Saxony will be part of the Prime Minister’s delegation and engage with Qatari companies at a business forum hosted jointly by the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry and its German counterpart AHK, aiming to strengthen their ties to their Qatari partners. As Qatar’s economy is transforming and aims at a sustainable diversification, German companies are key partners. Prime Minister Weil will attend the business forum to promote this message.
The Prime Minister will hold political meetings with Qatar’s Prime Minister and Interior Minister HE Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, HE the Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Ahmed al Kuwari, HE the Minister of Finance Ali Sherif al-Emadi, HE the Minister of State and Qatar Free Zones Authority chairman Ahmed Mohamed al-Sayed, and Qatar Investment Authority CEO Mansour bin Ibrahim al-Mahmoud. The Prime Minister will also continue his regular exchange of views with HE Dr Hessa al-Jaber, member of the Shura Council and Qatar’s representative in the Advisory Board of Volkswagen AG in a bilateral meeting.
A meeting with Qatar Foundation vice chairperson and CEO HE Sheikha Hind bint Hamad al-Thani, and a tour of Hamad Bin Khalifa University, where the Prime Minister will deliver a keynote speech, are also part of his schedule.
Based on the already excellent bilateral political, cultural and economic relations, Prime Minister Weil stated that “he appreciates the open-mindedness of our Qatari friends with respect to proposals and projects from Lower Saxony to further deepen our excellent co-operation. To present some of these proposals, I have come here for the second time in the past years.”