Emir of Qatar visits Rome for political and business talks

(AGI) Rome, Jan. 27 - The emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad bin Al-Thani, arrived on Wednesday in Rome for a series of political and business meetings with the highest state offices and Italian business leaders. The first meeting will be on Thursday at the president's office, where he will meet Italian President Sergio Mattarella. In the afternoon, the emir will have talks with the the President of the Senate, Pietro Grasso. Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi will receive him Thursday evening. After the institutional meetings on Thursday, it will be the turn of the elite of Italian companies on Friday. The emir will have a series of private talks with leaders of the main companies, such as Finmeccanica, Fincantieri, Eni, ExxonMobil, Anas and Cassa Depositi e Prestiti. Both politics and economics will be discussed during these meetings. Doha is involved in all the major theatres in the Middle East, starting with Syria where, like Riyadh, it supports the opposition against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. But the presence of Qatar is also strong in Italy, where the emirate has already made huge investments, including in real estate, tourism, food, fashion and luxury. Trade between Italy and Qatar totalled 1.785 billion euros between January and September 2015, an increase of 10 percent over the same period last year. Tamim Al-Thani, just 35 years old, became emir in 2013 after an education at Sherborne School in Dorset, UK and the Sandhurst Royal Military Academy. In Qatar, he has given way to a deep cabinet reshuffle, with the merger of several ministries and a replacement at the important Foreign Affairs ministry. Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, a member of the royal family, was appointed to take the lead of Qatari diplomacy replacing Khalid al-Attiyah, who was appointed Minister of State for Defence, an area that remains the prerogative of the emir. Attiyah, son of the founder of the armed forces, has been in office for more than two years and has played a very active role in the negotiations regarding Syria. His replacement, the 35-year-old Sheikh Mohammed, was involved in international cooperation for the Foreign Ministry. At the Labour Ministry, Minister Abdullah bin Saleh al-Khulaifi was replaced by Issa bin Saad al-Naimi Juffali, who is now in charge of Administrative Development, Labour and Social Affairs. The person in charge of Sports, Ghanem al-Ali, is now also responsible for Culture. The Ministry of Transport, led by Ahmed Jassem Seif al-Salliti, will also take care of Telecommunications. A senior official of the Foreign Ministry, Mohamed ben Abdallah al-Rumaihi, was promoted to Minister of Municipalities and Environment. A woman, Hanane Mohamed al-Kawari, has been put in charge of Health. In total, news agency QNA announced 7 changes regarding 20 ministries. At the head of the government remains Sheikh Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa al-Thani, in office since 2013.. .