Sunday, December 18, 2011

Qatar

Qatar is another country apart of the "oil rich" countries. Its southern border is Saudi Arabia, and the other sides of the small country are surrounded by the Persian Gulf. The Emir of Qatar is Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani; an absolute monarchy. The population of Qatar is close to one million seven hundred thousand people, and like the rest of the Gulf countries, it holds a large amount of expatriate employees. It's economy is heavily dependent upon the high amounts of oil and natural gas found there; which constitute close to fifty percent of the country's entire gross domestic product. However, like other Gulf countries, Qatar is trying to focus more on the non-energy sectors, such as private sectors and investment. It's economy is growing at about nineteen percent a year, which is the highest in the world. Qatar also has the world's highest gross domestic product per capita, with no absolute measure, however it's somewhere between $109,000 to $175,000; that's an unbelievable number.

Qatar is like the other countries that surround it. What I mean by that is that ever since the oil boom, there have been many construction projects and multi billion dollar investments in the country. In fact, Qatar us bidding to host the 2022 World Cup. Doha, which is the nation's capital, hosts a nice selection of "city living", due to the nice coastal skyline and the elaborated and modern lights and architecture.

Qatar is more on the liberal side, when considering its laws, however it is not as liberal as Bahrain, while at the same time it is no Saudi Arabia. The Islamic Shari'a (law) is still applied throughout family laws, inheritance, and courts. It's like most Arab countries when it comes to threats to national security from within its own boundaries and the government is following the Sunni branch of Islam.

The culture of the country is very similar to that of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, with "Arab" trying to be engraved into almost everything they 'say' and not do. However, if I attack their attempt to be Arab, I'll just be wasting my time and your time, for I have no reason to repeat what has already been said about its older brother Kuwait, or its uncle Saudi Arabia. Anyways, the most famous sport in Qatar is of course football like almost every other Arab nation.

One thing I that Qatar has, however, that has forced me to tip my hat in their direction is the education system. They have a modern and stable and well recognized internationally form of education. I won't bother you with any details, but the thing that caught my eye was their selection of universities. Many international schools have opened branches in Qatar, which is good because then it allows Muslims and Arabs in the Middle East to seek their high class knowledge in the Middle East.

No comments:

Post a Comment