HH the Amir Inaugurates Shura Council 49th Ordinar

HH the Amir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, under his honorable patronage, inaugurated the 49th ordinary session of the Shura Council (Advisory Council) at the Council's Headquarter yesterday's morning, Tuesday, 3 November 2020.

HE Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, as well as Their Excellencies the Ministers attended the inauguration ceremony. 

HH the Amir – may God protect him – delivered a speech on this occasion.

On the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, HH the Amir said during his speech: "It has become obvious that a full lockdown only postpones the spread of the pandemic, and at the same time harms the economy. Yet, ignoring the pandemic and pursuing the concept wrongly dubbed "herd immunity" aside from the dangerous risking of the lives of people (who are not a herd) - it has become evident that immunity is not guaranteed after contracting the disease. However, Qatar has opted for carefully considered partial and interim lockdowns while stressing precautionary measures and maximum readiness to isolate and treat those infected after the assessment of cases, in addition to the State's intervention in supporting the economic facilities affected by the pandemic. The correctness of our resilient choice, which sacrifices neither people's health nor the economy, has become clear."

HH the Amir said: "The State has taken swift measures based on two central points: The first point is to support the private sector and maintain the integrity of the financial and banking markets and the Qatari riyal. The second point is to maintain the public State budget. In this regard, we have directed providing support for the private sector affected by the measures that has been taken by the State to curb the spread of the pandemic, by offering 75 billion Qatari riyals."

HH the Amir also said: "The State has also taken urgent and necessary measures to mitigate the negative effects of low oil and gas prices on the public budget. The preliminary results have showed that the budget deficit during the first half of this year 2020 reached about 1.5 billion riyals only, although deficit projections were much higher. This has been achieved because of the rationalization of government spending associated with improving the efficiency of the public sector."

HH the Amir added: "Our efforts for achieving Qatar National Vision (2030) goals continue, especially in the field of realizing food security, encouraging investment by issuing a series of legislations stimulating investment and enhancing business environment, particularly the law regulating the partnership between the public and private sectors."

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