The Commercial Section at the Embassy provides Dutch companies with useful information to start up a business in Qatar.  There are guidelines for setting up business in Qatar that all companies wishing to work in Qatar should be aware of.  More information on doing business in Qatar could be obtained from the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the  Ministry of Economy and Commerce:

General useful information about be also found on the following websites:

Australian Government Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

 www.dfat.gov.au/publications/business_qatar/doing_business_qatar.html

Qatar Financial Centre

 www.qfc.com.qa

Qatar Embassy in Washington DC

 www.qatarembassy.net

Information about Qatar

 http://english.qatarinfo/net and  www.qatarinfo.net

(government website containing information about Qatar and official site of the Foreign information agency of the state of Qatar)

Doing Business in Qatar

Travelling to Qatar:

Dutch Nationals and 32 other nationalities from western European countries, America and Australia can obtain the visa at the airport for 21 days that could be extended for 7 more days without having to leave the country.  Further extensions could be possible but with extra charge.

There are several ways of doing business in Qatar:

1-     Establishing a company: if a company wishes to set up office in Qatar, in almost all cases a Qatari partner is required who owns 51% of the business;  There has been discussions about abolishing this structure of Qatari ownership but so far it still exits;

2-     Branch office: Another form of establishing a business in Qatar is to open a branch office where a company is performing a specific contract, will be fully taxable unless in special exemption circumstances and no Qatari partner required;

3-     Commercial Agency: An agent is appointed to market goods and services in Qatar, agencies must be registered and are governed by Qatari agency law;

4-     Representative Trade Office: or called ‘shop window’ where contract cannot be executed under this office but it could be used to promote;

Websites mentioned above give more detailed information about doing business in Qatar.  Companies could also contact the Embassy for further information.