‘Best stimulus’: UAE-Qatar trade restart to boost regional investments

‘Best stimulus’: UAE-Qatar trade restart to boost regional investments

The UAE's decision to resume trade relations with Qatar has been received with great optimism among the business community here, as the historic deal is poised to see resumption of previous investment and trade opportunities between nations.Of particular importance will be the reopening of Saudi and Emirati airspace to Qatar ahead of the 2022 Fifa World Cup, which Qatar is hosting. The event is expected to draw more than one million football fans with majority of travellers coming from the East likely to use Dubai as a major layover and travel hub.“Going ahead, the UAE real estate and infrastructure sector will likely stand out to be the biggest beneficiary of this as Qatar, a major natural gas producer, will likely use the UAE's geostrategic leverage to further gain access to markets. Going ahead, should things normalise further, we could likely see incremental trade growth of 10 per cent annually between the 2 countries,” said Bal Krishen, chairman of Century Financial.Qatar's economy will grow three per cent as the easing of a three-year-old regional dispute will help trade, tourism and logistics, Standard Chartered said, revising its previous 2.1 per cent growth estimate.“We see the lifting of restrictions on trade and travel