Qatar Free Zones Authority CEO Lim Meng Hui has underscored the strategic importance of bringing more pharmaceutical companies to the Gulf during a recently-held digital roundtable titled ‘Qatar at the Crossroads of the World’.
Speaking on the industry’s concerns about setting up research and development (R&D) operations in the region, Hui said: “For the pharmaceutical industry, its success depends on the availability of the appropriate and approved legal frameworks to protect the intellectual property rights of such companies. That’s why the government of Qatar has worked so hard to implement a robust legal framework to protect companies’ intellectual property.
“We hope that the arrival of companies, such as those previously announced by the free zones, will provide the reassurance needed by the big pharma companies that they can also set up operations here safely in the knowledge that the government of Qatar has enshrined in law the protection of their intellectual property.”
Hui added: “Beyond this, distribution capacity is paramount for the pharmaceutical industry and the State of Qatar has proven the diversity and resilience of its supply chains that allow products to get markets across the world.”
During the virtual event, Dr Amitendu Palit, senior research fellow from WEF, explained that the unprecedented economic and trade disruption required a unified global response and that countries must resist the urge of protectionist policies if supply chains are to continue functioning effectively for global markets.
Palit said he hopes that there would be a united response from the international community and that the urge to enact protectionist policies would be resisted in order to prevent polarisation of global trade.
A recent Global Competitiveness Report from WEF demonstrated that supply chains are only part of the story when it comes to FDI, and that whilst robust supply chains are a major determinant of FDI flows, they count for little if they are not connected to the fundamental building blocks of a dynamic economy that allow companies access to facilities, capital, and skilled labour needed to establish and grow their enterprises.
The WEF report ranked Qatar highly on a number of these key indicators, and QFZ is keen to help businesses capitalise on everything the zones and Qatar has to offer to help them on their journey to grow their international operations.
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