Since Siad Barre’s government was overthrown in 1991, Somalia has experienced a harsh situation and suffered from long civil war as conflict between various armed factions began struggling for raising their influence. So malis never gave up hopes despite measurable situation to pull out their country out of devastation and chaos and great progress has been made since the establishment of Federal Republic of Somalia.
Somalia, which has begun to recover, is still facing some security challenges and other major challenges related to rebuilding what has been destroyed during long civil war. The gradual recovery of the country requires all friendly and peace loving nations to support the people of Somalia and its elected President Mohammed Abdullah Mohamed who was on his third visit to Qatar last week.
The support of Qatar to Somalia stems from its understanding of the challenges faced by the country and the support it needs to promote stability and development as the two countries enjoy strong relations which are an example of the strong ties inherent in the two countries’ common history. The mutual visits of senior officials of the two countries and signing of number agreements have strengthened these ties.
In mid-December last year, the two countries signed, in Doha, eight agreements and MoUs covered agreements to avoid double taxation, prevent financial evasion, promote and protect mutual investments, a convention on maritime transport, an agreement on economic, trade and technical cooperation and a convention on the employment of Somali workers in Qatar. In addition, there are three agreements to empower Somali youth economically, by securing more than 75,000 jobs in Somalia.
These relations have also boosted through a series of MoUs, for enhancing cooperation in the field of ports, political consultation between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the two countries and diplomatic institutions, in addition to MoUs for the establishment of a joint higher committee, for health cooperation and support education programs in Somalia. The State of Qatar plays an important role in the implementation of many vital projects for development, reconstruction and rehabilitation in Somalia supporting development of security capacities, economic empowerment, and job creation programs. It has also implemented development projects including construction of schools,
hospitals, and clinics, homes for the poor and income-generating projects. As well it has provided humanitarian aids and a package of development projects worth $200m through Qatar Red Crescent Society and Qatar Charity. In this context, we can only reaffirm what has been stated by the Qatar News Agency recently, that the State of Qatar has affirmed that it will continue to be a trusted supporter of Somalia to achieve its peoples’ hopes and aspirations in order to build their state, ensure a prosperous future for its future generations and preserve the unity and sovereignty of Somalia.
Source: The Peninsula