The delegate of Qatar would like to raise the solutions towards import tariffs imposed

by different countries. Trade tariffs imposed by the developing countries are mainly
on the products such as steel and aluminum, technological and electrical equipment
and machinery, and also on the import of oil, and on harmful goods including tobacco
and alcoholic beverages. While trade tariffs are a measure against competition
against foreign rivals to protect domestic firms, unfair imposition of trade tariffs
hamper the trade relations between developing countries. Total removal of tariffs may
prove harmful against countries which have higher costs of production and may lead
to countries to have high trade deficits. Therefore the delegate of Qatar would seek to
sign bilateral and multilateral agreements between developed and developing
countries for the fair imposition of trade tariffs.

DOHA (Reuters) - Six months ago Serkan Ucar arrived in Doha to scope out
business opportunities - away from his usual patch. The mission looks set to pay off
handsomely, as the Turkish entrepreneur expects to win a first contract to help build
an iconic 2022 World Cup stadium.

Since several Arab countries launched an economic boycott of Qatar a year ago, the
tiny Gulf state has had to find alternative partners for trade and investment. Aided by
its massive natural gas wealth, it has rapidly made new friends.

A year ago Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut transport
and trade links with Doha, accusing it of backing terrorism - a charge it strongly
denies.

The boycott disrupted Qatar’s shipping routes through the Gulf and blocked imports
across its only land border with Saudi Arabia, previously the route for its perishable
food supplies and construction materials.

In the bitter diplomatic and economic chill, Ankara sided with Qatar. Ucar, 28, saw
openings.

“They’ve been extremely welcoming for Turkish companies after the blockade,” Ucar
told Reuters at a hotel where he was about to interview engineers for jobs at his new
office in Doha.
His family business Referans Holding expects to sign a contract soon to supply
scaffolding and aluminum and fit out Lusail Stadium, where the 2022 World Cup final
will take place.

Many Turkish contractors are bidding for projects as Qatar pushes ahead with
infrastructure for the tournament, said Joseph Abraham, chief executive of
Commercial Bank of Qatar.

WORLD CUP BOOM

Huge construction projects are under way for the World Cup. Seven new stadiums
are being built, along with other infrastructure, sucking in building materials from far
afield.

Gypsum, used to make drywall, is being newly imported from Iran, said a construction
manager who declined to be named. Gabbro, used to make asphalt and concrete,
was now being imported from Oman instead of the UAE.

While the World Cup means sporting drama and global prestige, the early stages of
the boycott were all about urgent shortages of basic products.

When dairy, fresh milk and eggs disappeared from stores, Doha airlifted in more than
3,000 cows on state airline Qatar Airways and imported eggs from Oman, which kept
its shipping route with Qatar open when Dubai halted shipments to Doha.

In Qatar’s supermarkets, Turkish brands like Ülker and Pinar soft cream cheeses are
doing well.

“The Turkish market is very important to us,” said Saleh bin Hamad al-Sharqi, director
general at the Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry. “It’s geographically close
logistically, high quality and has competitive prices.”

Imports from Turkey between June and December 2017 grew to $523 million, 48.2
percent higher than in the same period the previous year. From Oman they jumped
150 percent to $575 million, according to International Monetary Fund data.

Imports from India rose 54.6 percent to $1.06 billion, and from Iran 63 percent to $69
million.
WEATHERING THE STORM

Some of Doha’s businesses took a battering when the boycott was launched. Qatar
Airways lost money in 2017 after losing access to airspace over boycotting states.

Yet the economy has weathered the protracted dispute and is expected to grow 2.6
percent this year and closer to 3 percent in 2019, according to the finance ministry.

The world’s largest liquefied natural gas exporter quickly deployed its massive
sovereign wealth fund, estimated to have about $320 billion of assets, to protect its
banks and currency after the boycotting states withdrew deposits.

“Our biggest mission as Qataris during the blockade was to maintain the economy,”
Yousuf Al Jaida, chief executive of the Qatar Financial Centre, told Reuters.

“A lot of focus was not about growth, it was about physically withstanding the
blockade and whatever damage that may occur, because essentials, whether it’s
food or logistics, were not being made available.”

Qatari officials say the crisis was a wake-up call for the country of 2.7 million to
become more self-reliant and diversify.

“We want the world to see what this relatively small country can do with resilience
and commitment,” Energy Minister Mohammed al-Sada told Reuters. “The only worry
I have is that our team may not win the (2022) World Cup.”

DOHA (Reuters) - Qatar, which hosts the largest U.S. air base in the Middle East,
has spoken out against Washington’s decision to block all exports of Iranian oil,
saying unilateral sanctions were unwise because they hurt the countries that rely on
the supplies.

The United States has demanded that buyers of Iranian oil stop purchases by May 1
or face the prospect of sanctions, ending six months of waivers that had allowed
Iran’s eight biggest customers, most in Asia, to import limited volumes.
“The sanctions should not be extended because they have an adverse impact on
countries benefiting from Iranian oil,” Qatar’s foreign minister Sheikh Mohammed bin
Abdulrahman al-Thani said on Wednesday.

“In Qatar, we do not believe unilateral sanctions bring positive effects for crises which
must be solved through dialogue and dialogue only,” he told a news conference
following a meeting of the Asia Cooperation Dialogue in Qatar’s capital Doha, which
was attended by his Iranian counterpart.

Qatar, the world’s leading exporter of liquefied natural gas, is at odds with other Gulf
Arab states who are strong supporters of tighter U.S. sanctions on Iran.

Saudi Arabia and its allies accuse Qatar of supporting terrorism, which Qatar denies,
and of cozying up to their regional foe Iran. They cut trade and diplomatic ties with
Qatar in 2017, a boycott that Qatar says is aimed at curtailing its sovereignty.

The White House has said it is working with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab
Emirates to ensure oil markets, which have already tightened this year due to supply
cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), were
“adequately supplied”.

Qatar, which despite its large gas exports sells comparatively little oil, quit OPEC in
December, a move seen as a swipe at the organization’s de facto leader Saudi
Arabia.

Officials from Saudi Arabia and Bahrain attended Wednesday’s conference in Qatar,
the first time they have done so since the boycott began. Sheikh Mohammed called
their participation “limited” and said there was no sign of a thaw in relations.

“Unfortunately, we still see the same behavior of the blockading states of

stubbornness and denial. We hope that one day they will go back to wisdom and will
come back to the table and address the grievances in front of us,” he said.

In November, the minister said Doha would continue to deal with Iran, which helped
Qatar secure supplies when the boycott was first imposed, and that it was ready to
mediate between Washington and Tehran.

* Qatar announces $15 billion investment after emir meets Erdogan

* Lira rallies as central bank tightens lira liquidity

* Turkey doubles tariffs on U.S. cars, alcohol, cigarettes

* U.S. demanding release of Christian pastor in Turkey (Adds details, paragraph 11)

By Daren Butler, Humeyra Pamuk and Jeff Mason

ISTANBUL/WASHINGTON, Aug 15 (Reuters) - The United States on Wednesday

ruled out removing steel tariffs that have contributed to a currency crisis in Turkey
even if Ankara frees a U.S. pastor, as Qatar pledged $15 billion in investment to
Turkey, supporting a rise in the Turkish lira.

The White House stance appeared to give Turkish authorities little incentive to work
for the release of Andrew Brunson, a pastor on trial in Turkey on terrorism charges
and whose case Turkish officials have said was a matter for the courts.

The dispute is one of several between the NATO allies, including diverging interests
in Syria and U.S. objections to Ankara’s ambition to buy Russian defence systems,
that have contributed to instability in Turkish financial markets.

While the Brunson matter appeared far from being resolved, Turkish President Tayyip
Erdogan got a shot in the arm from Qatar’s Emir, who approved a package of
economic projects, investments and deposits after the two met in Ankara.

The Qatari money will be channeled into banks and financial markets, a Turkish
government source told Reuters.

The move by Turkey’s Gulf ally offered further support to a lira rally after the Turkish
central bank tightened liquidity and curbed selling of the currency.

The lira has lost nearly 40 percent against the dollar this year, driven by worries over
Erdogan’s growing control over the economy and his repeated calls for lower interest
rates despite high inflation.

The dispute with the United States, focused on a tit-for-tat tariff row and Turkey’s
detention of Brunson, helped turn the currency’s steady decline into meltdown.

It touched a record low of 7.24 to the dollar early on Monday, rattling global stock
markets and threatening the stability of Turkey’s financial sector.
President Donald Trump doubled tariffs on Turkish metals exports to the United
States last week prompting Turkey, which says it will not bow to threats, to raise
tariffs on U.S. cars, alcohol and tobacco by the same amount on Wednesday.

A decree by Erdogan doubled Turkish tariffs on imports of U.S. passenger cars to

120 percent, alcoholic drinks to 140 percent and leaf tobacco to 60 percent. Tariffs
were also doubled on goods such as cosmetics, rice and coal.

The White House called the Turkish response a step in the wrong direction and
signaled a hard line on Brunson’s release.

“Pastor Andrew Brunson is an innocent man held in Turkey & justice demands that
he be released. Turkey would do well not to test @POTUS Trump’s resolve to see
Americans who are wrongfully imprisoned in foreign lands returned home to the
United States,” Vice President Mike Pence said in a tweet.

Speaking in Washington, White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders made clear the
United States had no plan to remove the steel tariffs if Brunson were released though
she said it could remove sanctions imposed on two senior Turkish officials.

The United States sanctioned Justice Minister Abdulhamit Gul and Interior Minister
Suleyman Soylu, blaming both for being involved Brunson’s arrest and detention.
Brunson is accused of backing a 2016 coup attempt against Erdogan, which Brunson
denies.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu struck a somewhat conciliatory note,

saying Turkey was ready to discuss its issues with the United States as long as there
are no threats.

Despite the political tensions, the lira rebounded some 6 percent on Wednesday,
strengthening to around 6.0 to the dollar.

There was also optimism about better relations with the European Union after a
Turkish court released two Greek soldiers pending trial. Cavusoglu said ties with the
bloc, long strained, were on a firmer basis and had started normalising.

A banking watchdog’s step to limit foreign exchange swap transactions also helped
the currency.
“They are squeezing lira liquidity out of the system now and pushing interest rates
higher,” said Cristian Maggio, head of emerging markets strategy at TD Securities.

“Rates have gone up by 10 percent ... The central bank has not done this through a
change in the benchmark rates, but they are squeezing liquidity, so the result is the
same,” he said.

The lira firmed as far as 5.75 against the dollar on Wednesday and stood at 5.90 at
2058 GMT.

The finance minister will seek to reassure international investors on Thursday in a

conference call for which a ministry official said some far 3,000 people had signed up.

The chief executive of Turkey’s Akbank said the banking sector remained strong and
the measures taken to support the market had started to have an impact, adding
there was no withdrawal of deposits.

There was no resolution to the Brunson case in sight. On Wednesday, a court in

Izmir, where Brunson is on trial, rejected his appeal to be released from house arrest.
An upper court had yet to rule on the appeal, his lawyer told Reuters.

In another high-profile case, a Turkish court freed Taner Kilic, the local chair of
Amnesty International, a researcher from the rights group said. (Additional reporting
by Claire Milhench, Marc Jones and Martinne Geller in London, Orhan Coskun in
Ankara Writing by Dominic Evans, Arshad Mohammed Editing by John Stonestreet
and Lisa Shumaker)
Trump launched an investigation into the matter in April, in a move that diplomats and
trade experts say risks undermining the global rules-based trading system and
sparking retaliatory action around the world in products beyond steel.

The White House confirmed last week Trump plans to use the premise of the probe
as a catalyst to demand action by the Group of 20 leaders to reduce excess capacity
in steel, the second

biggest industry in the world after oil and gas.

The U.S. recommendation on possible new tariffs will be released some time after the
G20 summit, which starts on Friday. The U.S. is conducting a similar study into the
case for aluminium tariffs.

While tariffs on both products would be aimed primarily at China, U.S. allies fear they
will bear the brunt of the measures because Chinese steel exports are already largely
subject to U.S. restrictions and Canada and Mexico are likely to be exempt.

Also, invoking national security is all but taboo at the World Trade Organisation, the
arbiter of international trade rules, because it is largely seen as a way to wage
economic warfare by citing arbitrary defence concerns.

The European Union has already promised to retaliate if it is hit by U.S. steel tariffs.

Moreover, trade diplomats fear U.S. security-based tariffs on steel would widen
cracks in the global trading order, after Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab
Emirates cited national security at the WTO last week to justify their economic
boycott of Qatar.

Qatar has threatened legal action. Its WTO representative Ali Alwaleed Al-Thani said
a national security claim was not a “free pass” and would need testing in court.

India has put a 25% tariff duty against China’s steel import, fearing dumping of steel
under the avg COP of steel producing companies of INDIA.

WTO Director General Roberto Azevedo told Reuters it would be concerning to see
countries making national security demands within the WTO’s dispute settlement
system, the global trade court for the its 164 members.

“That, I think, is a very sensitive course of action,” Azevedo said.

William Reinsch, a fellow at the Stimson Centre said if the threat of tariffs are used to
pressure members of the G20’s forum on steel overcapacity - set up last year - to
tackle the problem, a good outcome could yet prevail.

He warned however, that a broad U.S. claim to national security would put global
trade on a slippery slope.

“It just opens the door to everyone else to do same thing, not just on steel,” Reinsch
said.

“The next one that comes up is food - there’s already a debate on food security in
number of countries - and then you start talking about agricultural protection, and
then you really are unravelling big chunks of the trading system.”

Policies that could fall under national security include China’s new Cyber Security
Act, which is under WTO scrutiny from Japan, South Korea, the United States and
others; Ukraine’s gas pipeline reforms; and Russia’s trade restrictions on Ukraine.

Additional reporting by Paul Carrel

Our Standards:The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Two years ago, an air, land and sea blockade was imposed on Qatar by four Arab
countries.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt cut diplomatic and trade
ties with Doha, and imposed a sea, land and air blockade on Qatar, claiming it
supported "terrorism" and was too close to Iran.

Qatar rejected the claims and said there was "no legitimate justification" for the
severance of relations.
There has since been little progress towards a resolution. Qatar and the UAE remain
locked in a battle at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) after Doha filed a racial
discrimination case.

While the Qatari prime minister visited Saudi Arabia last week for a series of
summits, the highest-level meeting since the beginning of the crisis, Doha
subsequently expressed reservations about the statements issued in Mecca.

"The Gulf summit statement talked about a unified Gulf, but where is it amid the
continuation of Qatar's blockade?" said Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al
Thani, Qatar's foreign minister.

Here are five things you need to know about the Qatar-GCC crisis:

How it started
On May 23, 2017, hackers posted false statements attributed to Qatar's emir on the
Qatari state news agency's website.

The fake remarks, praising Iran and criticising US foreign policy, were picked up and
aired on several UAE and Saudi-owned television networks.

The fake news was first posted two days after US President Donald Trump met Arab
and Muslim leaders in Riyadh. On May 24, authorities in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
also blocked Al Jazeera's website.

Diplomatic collapse
On June 5, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and
Egypt issued statements announcing the severing of diplomatic relations with Qatar.

Saudi Arabia then shut its land border with Qatar, and together with three other
countries imposed a land, sea and air embargo on its neighbor.

The four countries claimed that Qatar worked to support "terrorism", maintained
intimate relations with Iran and meddled in the internal affairs of their countries.

Qatar responded by saying that there was "no legitimate justification" for the actions
taken by the four countries. It added that the decision was a "violation of its
sovereignty" and that it would work to ensure that it would not affect citizens and
residents.

What do people in Qatar think about the blockade?

The roots of the conflict
A previous diplomatic rift had developed in 2014, when Saudi Arabia, the UAE and
Bahrain pulled out their diplomats, claiming that Qatar supported armed groups.
However, the border remained open and Qataris were not expelled.

Tensions with Qatar have generally revolved around its alleged support for political
Islamic movements, such as the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as complaints about
the Al Jazeera Media Network, which is based in Doha.

These tensions were exacerbated by the Arab Spring in 2011 when Saudi Arabia and
Qatar were seen as backing different sides.

On June 7, 2017 the Saudi foreign minister said that Qatar must cease its support of
groups such as Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood.

Blockading countries' demands

The four countries issued a list of demands to be carried out within 10 days, which
Qatar promptly rejected.

At the top of the list was downgrading of diplomatic ties with Iran, but it also included
ceasing military cooperation with Turkey and shutting down Al Jazeera.

These countries also called on Doha to sever ties to "terrorist groups" and stop the
funding of persons and groups designated as "terrorists" by the US and other nations,
and to stop alleged meddling in other states' affairs.

Financial impact
Qatar's economy has proven resilient amid the blockade and lower oil prices, the
International Monetary Fund said ahead of the two-year anniversary.

"Economic performance improved in 2018. Qatar's economy has successfully

absorbed the shocks from the 2014-16 drop in hydrocarbon prices and the 2017
diplomatic rift," the International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in a statement.

The fund estimated real GDP growth at 2.2 percent, up from 1.6 percent in 2017, and
also said the country's banking sector was healthy, although it reported a cooling in
the housing market.
Technical barriers against developing countries:

Barriers against Iraq: There have been high import quota’s on certain goods, such as

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Iraq’s parliament has reached a preliminary agreement on

legislation to guarantee religious and ethnic minorities seats on provincial councils to
be selected in elections expected soon, lawmakers said Tuesday.

“We have an initial agreement on the motion. Nevertheless we also have some
reservations. Tomorrow we will have a second reading,” said Hashim al-Ta’ie, a
Sunni Arab politician who heads a committee on regional affairs.

“Parliament is expected to put it to a vote either Sunday or Monday.”

Ta’ie said disagreement over the motion, based on a United Nations plan for minority
representation, centered on whether the Shabak people, who live mostly in northern
Iraq, were Kurds or a separate ethnic group.

Said Arikat, a U.N. spokesman in Baghdad, said Tuesday U.N. officials had
submitted a minorities plan to parliament, but declined to give details.

The government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has pressed lawmakers to adopt
quotas for minorities before the provincial elections, expected by late January.

When parliament passed a law in September on the elections, it dropped a minority

quota clause known as Article 50 from the draft at the last minute. Christians and
other minorities protested at the decision.

Across Iraq, there will be about 440 provincial council seats up for vote. The number
to be reserved for minorities is still under discussion. Saleem al-Jubouri, spokesman
for the country’s largest Sunni Arab political bloc, said parliament’s legal committee
was meeting a representative from the United Nations mission in Iraq to prepare for a
vote Monday.

Iraq’s first election since 2005 could redraw the country’s political map and give a
greater political voice to Sunni Arabs who boycotted the vote last time.
The plight of Iraq’s Christians, who number in the hundreds of thousands, came to
the fore this month when at least 1,500 Christian families fled the northern city of
Mosul after a dozen Christians were killed and others were threatened.

According to an official in Mosul, at least 80 families have returned.

There have been mainly embargos against Qatar, mainly from 4 countries- Saudi
Arabia, UAE, Egypt and Bahrain which include land, sea and air embargos. This has
led Qatar becoming dependent on Iran for food, and its lack of other resources
(excluding petroleum and other products). Main imports include arms, machinery and
technical equipment, and also food as a basic requirement. Due to Qatar’s high per
capita GDP, it has overcome most trade problems with the Middle East. There have
been false accusations against Qatar regarding the monetary funding of terrorist
group, mainly a political strategy to isolate Qatar from the Middle East, which include
the GCC countries.

After trade has become a lot more difficult with Iran due to sanctions imposed on it by
countries including UK, France, Germany, China and Russia, prices of oil would
increase to a great extent in those countries which import a large share of petrol from
Iran. Due to a large proportion of oil being imported from Iran, petrol prices
throughout the country would be largely affected, leading to a very high inflation rate.
Such a high rate of inflation in a developing country such as India could lead it into a
recession, and may affect the global prices as cost of production would rise to a
much greater extent. To prevent a suspected global recession, Qatar would strongly
support removal of sanctions against Iran, as its blockade in trade of oil would
adversely affect the economies of developing countries, and would put a huge burden
on the reserves of India to subsidize its industries.