| Doha Bank opens Shanghai office, eyes full-fledged China operations |
|
| Friday,August 10,2007 Posted: 15:56 BJT(0756 GMT) |
| From:Gulf Times Original:News |
DOHA BANK hosted a gala dinner reception yesterday evening in Shanghai to celebrate the opening of its representative office there. The reception was attended by top dignitaries from China and Qatar representing government, banking and business sectors.
Before the dinner, Qatar’s Ambassador to China Abdullah Abdul Rahman al-Muftah, the Chinese foreign ministry’s director of Gulf affairs D I Wang and Doha Bank deputy CEO R Seetharaman inaugurated the representative office at Nanjing Road (W).
Also present on the occasion were Khalifa Thani from the Qatari embassy, Jere Tala, Qatar Airways’ area manager in Shanghai, Harry Liu, Doha Bank Shanghai office representative, and officials from the Shanghai media.
Speaking on the occasion, Seetharaman said the inauguration of the office was “an important milestone, which gives us an opportunity to understand one of the biggest countries in the world and explore the Chinese market.”
“This may lead the bank to establish its operations in a full-fledged manner subject to the appropriate regulatory approvals. We want to be perceived as a bank with traditional values and strong presence in the international arena,” he added.
He said the bank had opened representative offices recently in Singapore, Turkey and Japan. “These countries were identified with great care, taking into consideration the strong commercial and economic relationship between these countries and Qatar. International companies want to make investments and do business with companies from Qatar”.
Seetharaman said that by having a presence in these centres Doha Bank would have the opportunity to understand the market and do business in these regions and at the same time build commercial and banking relationships.
He also spoke about the participation of various Chinese companies in projects in Qatar and establishment of their project offices in Doha.
He said China was one of Qatar’s largest trade partners. Bilateral trade increased from $389mn in 2004 to nearly $2bn by 2006. The growth in the non-oil sector in Qatar provided ample opportunities to Chinese companies, he said.
The Shanghai representative office would help further strengthen the financial and economic links between the two countries, Seetharaman said.
“Doha Bank expects an increased interest of Chinese companies in different sectors in Qatar and the establishment of the representative office will allow Doha Bank to understand, explore and facilitate the needs of Chinese companies doing business or intending to do business in Qatar.”
|
Bilateral Visits