Qatar Economic Outlook Issue Number 13

Part 2 - Economic Performance 2017 - 2020
101 
 
Box 2-10: The Development of Foreign Trade and Investment Policies in Qatar 
In a bid to benefit from the positive effects of the principles of economic openness and 
liberalization of foreign trade and investment, the State of Qatar has embarked since the 
beginning of 1990s on modernizing the legal system for foreign trade and investments, 
whether those related to international obligations or local laws and regulations, which 
culminated in the State joining the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) on 7 
April 1994. 
After the GATT Agreement was replaced by the creation of the World Trade 
Organization (WTO) on 1 January 1995, Qatar ratified the its obligations accession of to 
the WTO in its national legislation under Decree-Law No. 24 of 1995, issued on 3 
December 1995, under the protocol of the State of Qatar's accession to the Marrakesh 
Agreement Establishing the World Trade Organization, which culminated in Qatar's 
accession to WTO on 13 January 1996. 
The State of Qatar hosted the WTO's Fourth Ministerial Conference in November 2001, 
which facilitated negotiations on regulations related to agriculture, services, and 
intellectual property. The participation of the State of Qatar in the establishment of the Gulf 
Cooperation Council in May 1981 led Qatar to ratify dozens of agreements on the 
Reciprocal Promotion and Protection of Investments (RPPI), and Economic, Commercial 
and Technical Cooperation (ECTC). 
Pursuant to Annex 3 of the Marrakesh Agreement of 1995, which provides for the 
establishment of "The Trade Policy Review Mechanism (TPRM)" with the purpose of 
assisting member states to conduct a periodic review of trade policies and practices (the 
most recent amendment thereof stipulates that member states are required to conduct 
Trade Policy review every 7 years), therefore the State of Qatar conducted a review of its 
trade policies and practices in three periods: the first was made on 21 February 2005, the 
second took place on 22 April 2014, and the third was conducted on 6 -8 April 2021. In 
that spirit, the impact of Qatar's economic openness to foreign economies, measured by 
the average percentage of total trade exchange for exports and imports of goods and 
services, reached about 90.8% of GDP for the period 2017-2020. 

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