Full Speech of Amir of Qatar

In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I welcome you to Qatar as we are launching the twentieth edition of the Doha Forum this morning. We founded this platform twenty-two years ago to be a venue for decision-makers, experts and the media from our region and the world at large.

We are pleased that the inception of this forum had paved the way for the emergence of many forums and platforms that were subsequently launched in our region.

The world today has reached a pivotal stage on all political, economic, environmental, and social levels, and this stage requires radical revisions to spare the world from reaching a state of imbalance.

At the level of environment and climate change, we see that non-eco-friendly consumption patterns, and rates of irresponsible industrial production are steadily increasing, which may lead to catastrophic repercussions that impact all of humanity, and even extend to reach future generations.

At the societal level and peoples livelihood, the social and economic gap among states and within a single society, is indicative of a serious defect in the overall economies, especially after the strengthening of the technology sector and its role in the economy and the lives of individuals. This is in addition to the horrific increase in global poverty rates, the difficulty of accessing the basic necessities of life, and the deterioration into famines in some cases.

We believe that social justice is the real shelter for societies, and this requires fair tax policies because the majority of societies cannot dispense with state services.

But we warn against the exclusionary populist voices in a time of societal tensions and economic recession. One of these exclusionary phenomena that have increased in recent years is the phenomenon of Islamophobia.

Regretfully, Islamophobia is not confined only to the forces of the populist right. However, it needs taking a firm and serious stand against it, such as the one witnessed by the world when it took a stand against racial discrimination and anti-Semitism. It is noteworthy here that the accusation of anti-Semitism is now used wrongly against everyone who criticizes Israel’s policies, and this impinges on the struggle against racism and actual anti-Semitism.

On the political and security level, it is sorrowful to see a contraction in the political and diplomatic means in favor of military expansion and armed solutions. The militarization of solutions has begun to grow during the last four decades till it reached one of its most challenging peaks in the Ukrainian war. From here, I emphasize the firm position of the State of Qatar on the renunciation of violence, intimidating civilians and assaulting states sovereignty and all other acts that may constitute a violation of human values and international laws. We stand in solidarity with the millions of innocent people and refugees who have been victimized by this unjust war and geopolitical calculations. While stressing this solidarity, I would like in this context to remind of the millions of Palestinians who have been suffering from the Israeli occupation and international neglect for more than seven decades, similarly a lot of other peoples, such as the Syrian people and the Afghan people, for whom the international community has failed to render justice.