News | Ministry of Transport

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

France Honors HE the Minister with Commander of the Legion of Honor

Doha – QatarHE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti was honored today by French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian with the “Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honor” in an event that was witnessed by HE Qatar's Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani.HE Minister Al Sulaiti expressed pleasure for the appreciation, attributing that to the massive and unlimited support he said has been receiving from HH the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani and directives from HE Prime Minister and Interior Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani.HE Minister Al Sulaiti said Qatari-French relations are strong and historic, have been reinforced in multiple fields over the past few years, and saw a remarkable advancement that moved them from conventional to strategic level thanks to convergence of points of views on several issues of common interest.Eventually, that had made our bilateral relations a good role model, said the Minister, and pushed the two countries to explore new horizons for cooperation to further enhance their bilateral ties.HE Minister Al Sulaiti also said he has been working to boost cooperation between the two friendly nations since he started his professional career and that cooperation resulted in launching joint projects in the field of transport and information technology.That is a new addition to the history of unique relations between Qatar and France, the Minister added, and a true translation of our clear vision for sustainable cooperation in all domains.

Tuesday, September 6, 2016

HE The Minister Meets with IALA Secretary-General

Doha – QatarHE Minister of Transport and Communications Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti met here Tuesday with the Secretary-General of the International Association of Marine Aids to Navigation and Lighthouse Authorities (IALA) Francis Zachariae.The two officials discussed cooperation ties in the field of marine systems and means of further enhancing them, as well as boosting ties between the State of Qatar and IALA.The meeting was attended by a number of senior officials from the Ministry and IALA.

Monday, August 22, 2016

HE the Minister Meets with German Ambassador to Qatar

Doha – Qatar (July 26, 2016) HE Jassim Saif Ahmed Al Sulaiti, Minister of Transport and Communications, met here Tuesday with HE Hans-Udo Muzel, the Ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany in Doha. During the meeting, HE Minister Al Sulaiti received a written message from the German Federal State of Bavaria where Ms Ilse Aigner, State Minister for Economic Affairs, invites his Excellency to pay a visit to Munich to discuss cooperation between the two friendly countries in the economic fields relating to mobility sector and means of further enhancing them. The meeting also discussed the bilateral relations between the two friendly nations in the field of transportation and information and communication technology

Sunday, August 21, 2016

Global Innovation Index 2016: Qatar Makes Significant Headway

Qatar is ranked first in the world on two indicators, Ease of Paying Taxes and Tertiary Inbound Mobility of International Students in the Global Innovation Index 2016 released at a Geneva media briefing last week.The Index, which measured performance of 128 countries on 82 indicators, placed Qatar in the third position in the Arab world and 50th globally in the overall performance.Recording progress on innovation input sub-indexes, Qatar advanced 6 positions on Infrastructure pillar (ICT access and use), 10 positions on Market Sophistication pillar and 28 positions on Business Sophistication pillar, thus ranking 16th, 68th and 78th globally, respectively.Other strong indicators for Qatar are - Electricity output (6th), University/industry research collaboration(8th), State of cluster development (8th), Joint venture/strategic alliance deals (8th) and Foreign direct investment outflows (16th).Nine ranks gain has been also reported for Qatar’s Creative Outputs pillar– globally ranked 49th.The 2016 report highlights that, globally, gains from global innovation can be shared more widely as cross-border flows of knowledge and talent are on the rise. It highlights that there is ample scope to expand global corporate and public R&D cooperation to foster future economic growth.As per Qatar’s ICT Landscape Report 2016: Business, thirteen percent of multinational ICT companies invested in R&D, with 8 percent of the local ICT companies investing in R&D activities in 2014. Among the ICT enterprises investing in R&D in Qatar, a majority (63%) of them spent less than 5 percent of their annual revenue for R&D in 2014 in Qatar.Recording progress, Qatar is now ranked 52nd on Wikipedia edits and 46th on Video uploads on YouTube indicators within Online creativity sub-pillar. Qatar gained 5 ranks in Generic top-level domains and is now ranked 56th globally.Global Innovation Index 2016 report observes that the Northern Africa and West Asia region shows its highest average scores in ICT access, ICT-driven business model creation and e-Government and productivity growth. Less notable performances are seen in high-tech exports, patents, and the quality of publications across the region. The report also said many of the GCC countries are diversifying their economies following a decades-long dependence on oil, turning their focus towards more innovation-driven and diverse sources of growth and overcoming relative shortcomings in areas, such as Institutions, market and business sophistication.2016 Global Innovation Index explores rising share of innovation carried out via globalized innovation networks and is themed - Winning with Global Innovation. It is published by U.N.'s World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), INSEAD Business School and Cornell University.Switzerland emerged as the global leader among innovative economies followed by Sweden, the United Kingdom, the United States and Finland. China first time joins the ranks of the world’s 25 most-innovative economies. At the Arab level, the UAE ranked first, followed by Saudi Arabia.The detailed report is available at: https://www.globalinnovationindex.org/gii-2016-report.

Tuesday, August 16, 2016

25 New Teams Join Digital Incubation Center in August

The Digital Incubation Center (DIC) at the Ministry of Transport and Communications once again opened its doors to a new group of young, tech-savvy entrepreneurs who have innovative technology-related ideas, fledgling ICT start-ups, or who are ready to start an ICT company. 11 new startup teams and 14 Idea Stage teams have joined the incubation center this August, 2016.The 25 teams were chosen after a rigorous selection process. The judges for the final selection of the startups were Abdulaziz Al Khal from QMIC, Mahmoud Abdellatif Khalil from Qatar University, Najat Abdulraheem from Ooredoo, Dr. Munir Tag from QNRF and a representative from QDB. With this new intake the total number of Tech Startup teams that are incubated at DIC has reached 44.In its new intake of May 2016, the DIC was looking for both aspiring and current entrepreneurs who are capable of harnessing emerging technologies to create innovative products, solutions, and services that will contribute to Qatar’s thriving digital sector, and the tech solutions being incubated from the 25 new teams are in the areas of Cyber Security, Edutainment, e-commerce, Gaming, Digital Content and Smart City Solutions.Reem Al Mansoori, Assistant Undersecretary - Digital Society Sector of MOTC, speaking on the new intake said; “We are excited with the new batch that has joined the DIC. The new teams are working on innovative technologies and much needed solutions for Qatar. The objective of the DIC has been to provide the necessary support for new tech start-ups to emerge from Qatar. Developing the technology sector in the country plays a key role in our transformation towards a smart society. We believe the youth of Qatar has the capacity to achieve great success if given the right support mechanisms, such as these incubation programs.”The Center offers two tracks: the Launchpad, a 6-month program that helps entrepreneurs nurture their ICT ideas and turn them into business opportunities; and the 2-year Start-up track for early stage start-ups and potential start-ups that need help in accelerating the development of their business. DIC offers expertise and professional guidance in technology and business, access to workspace, business planning, education and training, mentors, legal advice, software/hardware and office space. Even though the center does not fund the startups directly, the different services that each startup receives during the 2 year period amounts to around QR 400,000 in indirect support.

Monday, August 1, 2016

Qatar Ranks 3rd on 2016 Online Service Index

Qatar ranked among the top 10 Asian economies, on the Online Service Index of the biannual E-Government Development Index (EGDI) released on Friday by the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN DESA).Qatar, along with Saudi Arabia, ranked third among GCC states scoring 0.67391.On the e-participation index, Qatar ranked third along with Kuwait, among Gulf countries and 55th globally with a score of 0.6441.Qatar Digital Government reported that 144 e-services have been launched in the first half of 2016, taking the total number of e-services to 1030 exceeding the set target of 1000 e-services.H.E. the Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al-Thani, launched “Qatar Digital Government Strategy 2020” in May 2014 with the objective to ascertain the principle of transparency, and increase the efficiency of e-services provided to the public and businesses.Qatar Digital Government has three strategic objectives, better services for individuals and businesses, enhance efficiency in government administration and encourage financial prudency by increasing government openness through more civic participation.EGDI is used to measure the willingness and capacity of national administrations to use information and communication technologies to deliver public services. This measure of the index is useful for government officials, policy makers, researchers and representatives of civil society and the private sector to gain a deeper understanding of the comparative benchmarking of the relative position of a country in utilizing e-government for the delivery of inclusive, accountable and citizen-centric services.The EGDI is based on an expert assessment survey of the online presence of all 193 United Nations Member States, which assesses national websites and how e-government policies and strategies are applied in general and in specific sectors for delivery of essential services. The assessment rates the e-government performance of countries relative to one another as opposed to being an absolute measurement.Numerically, the EGDI is a weighted average of three normalized scores on three most important dimensions of e-government, namely: scope and quality of online services (Online Service Index, OSI), development status of telecommunication infrastructure (Telecommunication Infrastructure Index, TII) and inherent human capital (Human Capital Index, HCI). Qatar has slightly advanced on all these indexes since the last edition in 2014.