Qatar’s strategic overhaul spurs foreign investment surge

Doha, Qatar: Qatar is drawing heightened interest from global investors with a sweeping regulatory reform programme, robust free zone ecosystems, and...

Doha, Qatar: Qatar is drawing heightened interest from global investors with a sweeping regulatory reform programme, robust free-zone ecosystems, and a bold set of financial incentives aimed at anchoring the nation’s economic diversification push, a market expert said.

Unveiled earlier this year, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry Strategy 2024–2030 has become the cornerstone of this renewed effort. It lays out a clear roadmap to modernise commercial legislation, strengthen industrial capabilities, and attract long-term capital flows.

“Qatar is not just opening its doors—it’s redesigning the entire front porch,” Markus Illich, a legal advisor at Global Investment Forum Middle East, told The Peninsula in an interview. “We are seeing a conscious pivot from passive liberalisation to proactive investment engineering.”

At the heart of the reform drive is a legislative overhaul affecting 27 laws across 17 government bodies. Drafts include a long-awaited bankruptcy law, new commercial registration regulations, and a public-private partnership (PPP) framework to enable more structured collaboration between government and enterprise. Illich said, “Predictability is the real currency for foreign investors. Qatar’s push for legal modernisation gives businesses more than incentives—it gives them confidence.”

Free zones have emerged as the operational backbone of Qatar’s FDI strategy. Zones like Qatar Free Zones (QFZ) and Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) now offer not only 100 percent foreign ownership and tax holidays but also expedited licensing and dispute resolution under internationally recognised commercial law.