(MENAFN- The Peninsula) The Peninsula
H E Sheikh Abdulla bin Saoud Al Thani, Governor of Qatar Central Bank and Chairman of Qatar Development Bank, is currently on a visit to Sweden from October 18-21 together with Abdulaziz Al-Khalifa, CEO of Qatar Development Bank.
Sheikh Abdulla was invited by Mikael Damberg, Sweden's Minister of Enterprise and Innovation, for a knowledge sharing visit focused on Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the areas of financial technology, bio-medical technology, and waste-to-energy technology. The delegation also contains representatives from Qatar Financial Center, said a statement issued by Embassy of Sweden in Qatar.
During the visit of Sheikh Abdulla, Governor of Qatar Central Bank, the Qatari delegation met with several important Swedish public sector, academia, and private sector representatives.
The visit was hosted by Mikael Damberg, Swedish Minister of Enterprise and Innovation, who had invited Sheikh Abdullahbin Sauod Al Thani to Sweden.
Along the QCB Governor in the delegation is Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al Khalifa, CEO of Qatar Development Bank, Sheikh Khalid bin Saod Al Thani, Director of QCB Financial Stability & Statistics Department, Michael Rayn, Executive Manager at Qatar Financial Centre, Abdulrahman bin Hesham Al Suwaidi, CEO Office Manager at QDB, and Rauf Mammadov, CEO Advisor at QDB.
The meetings will also be attended by Abdulaziz Al Naemi, Chargé d'affaires of the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Stockholm. Ewa Polano, Ambassador of Sweden to Qatar, is also accompanying the Governor on his visit to Stockholm.
During the visit, Sheikh Abdulla and Abdulaziz Al Khalifa met with the Delegation's host Mikael Damberg, Swedish Minister for Enterprise & Innovation. This meeting was also attended by representatives from Vinnova, the Swedish Agency for Innovation and Entrepreneurship Promotion, and SISP, Swedish Incubators and Science Parks.
A meeting was also held with Sheikh Abdalla's Swedish counterpart, Stefan Ingves, Governor of the Swedish Riksbank.
A major focus during the visit to Stockholm was knowledge sharing in the area of Financial Technology, which is currently a prioritised area for Qatar Development Bank.
Sweden has a highly developed ecosystem for the incubation of financial technology startups, and is strongly recognised in this field. After London, Stockholm has the second highest number of financial technology startups in Europe. Because of this, Stockholm is a perfect model city for Qatar to engage with in knowledge sharing efforts, and this has been recognized by both Qatar Development Bank and Qatar Central Bank.
Because of this, a Financial Technology Roundtable Seminar was hosted for the delegation by Business Sweden. The Seminar was attended by the full Qatari delegation, and on the Swedish side by representatives from several key private sector financial technology companies and banks, including SEB, Seamless, HiQ, Verisec, Behaviosec, Chromaway, Me2Yo, Beam Wallet Nordic, and others. A separate meeting was held with EQT, a Swedish private equity firm specializing in financial technology.
Another focus area for Qatar Development Bank and for the delegation was innovation and entrepreneurship in bio-medical technology. Because of this, meetings were held with Dr. Niclas Adler, Chairman of Karolinska Development, and Dr. Hans Wigzell, Professor Emeritus and former President of Karolinska Institute's Nobel Prize Committee.
The Karolinska Institute (KI) is one of the best medical research institutions and university hospitals in the world, and a member of the prestigious Emeri List published by Qatar's MoE.
KI proudly counts among its alumni several prominent Qatari doctors in leading positions. During this meeting, collaboration opportunities between Sweden and Qatar in the field of bio-medical technology and innovation was discussed, with a focus on how both parties can leverage their strengths to form a mutually beneficial relationship, both on the research and commercial sides.
Another area in which Sweden is a world leader is waste management. As is well known, Sweden today imports waste from other countries and converts it to energy, resulting in Sweden having the lowest percentage of waste ending up in landfills in the world. As such, Sweden is the best country to learn from in this field, and a knowledge sharing visit was held to Smart City Sweden, under the tagline 'Waste to Energy Waste as a Resource.
Additionally, the Governor and the Abdulaziz met with Maria Rankka, CEO of the Stockholm Chamber of Commerce, following up on her visit to Doha last year. Additional meetings and visits included a study visit to KTH, the Royal Institute of Technology, and its innovation and incubation space, among others.
The visit of Sheikh Abdulla bin Saoud Al Thani and Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al-Khalifa to Sweden symbolizes the close relations of the two countries, and a strengthened commitment between Sweden and Qatar in the areas most relevant to Qatar National Vision 2030. It was an important step in the deepening bilateral relationship between the two nations.
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