Al Meera Consumer Goods Company, a leading retail chain in Qatar, has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Tekzen, a Turkish Corporation and part of Tekfen Group, to import non-food products.

This collaboration will enable Al Meera to increase its non-food offerings to the Qatar market. The agreement was signed during a meeting between Al Meera’s delegation and the chairman of Tekzen, Murat Gigin and Onur Mertoglu, board member and general manager of the company, said a statement.

The MoU signing came during the visit of an Al Meera delegation to Turkey to meet with Turkish investors with the objective of enhancing bilateral trade relations between Qatar and Turkey.

The delegation was headed by Qatar-based Al Meera’s deputy chief executive officer Engineer Salah Al Hammadi. He met with Istanbul and Samsun based investors and businesses looking to expand in Qatar, it added.

Meetings were also held with government officials including the Governor of Samsun Osman Kaymak, it said.

On the first day of their two-day official trip, Al Meera officials visited Happy Center where they met its chairman Ismail Altun and chief executive officer Yavuz Altun and discussed strategic partnership and ways to improve mutual cooperation.

Following this, Engineer Salah Al Hammadi graced the opening ceremony of Happy Center’s 135th outlet.

Next on the visit list was a trip to the Chamber of Commerce of Istanbul, the 3rd largest chamber in the world, which has about 420,000 members. Here, the Al Meera delegation was welcomed by the vice chairman of Chamber of Commerce of Istanbul Ahmet Uzair.

During the meeting, the two sides discussed the possibilities to developing a solid network of partners in Turkey, based on the recommendation of the Chamber of Commerce.

On the second day, the Al Meera delegation visited Samsun Governorship to take a tour around Koytour Chicken factory to assess the quality standards of their exclusive partner, with its general manager Yahiya Nafi.

During the visit to Samsun, the Al Meera delegation met with the Governor of Samsun Osman Kaymak and discussed how his region could support trade with the company.

In addition to this, the delegation also met at the Chamber Of Commerce of Samsun, Salih Zaki Murzioglu, vice chairman of the Union of Chambers of Commerce of Turkey and Sinan Chakir, chairman of Samsun Chamber of Commerce and Stock Exchange. The visit was widely covered by local Turkish newspapers.

Qatar and Turkey have always had strategic relations in many areas of cooperation, built upon a strong and friendly historical relationship. Trade relations continue to increase; in the first quarter of 2018. There are about 186 Turkish-Qatari firms operating in Qatar market and 19 firms with 100 per cent Turkish capital.

Engineer Salah Al Hammadi said: “Our recent visit to Istanbul and Samsun was highly productive. Qatar and Turkey’s economic and business interests continue to grow stronger and both regions are benefitting from one another.”
“As one of the most competitive countries in the Arab region, Qatar’s business environment offers countless rewarding opportunities to businesses and investors looking to expand,” he added.

He continued: “Our meetings with Turkish businessmen and business entities were also very positive and gave us the chance to discuss how we can help to increase the bilateral trade relations between Qatar and Turkey.”

Al Hammadi added: “Qatar market is replete with investment opportunities, which attract Turkish investors and businessmen, affirming that Qatari business owners have real desire to establish trade alliances and partnerships with their Turkish counterparts.”

Since its inception, Al Meera has placed immense trust on community welfare, as social responsibility is considered an integral part of its programmes. In lieu to its ongoing efforts, Al Meera Consumer Goods Company was recently recognised to bring forth a number of economic initiatives designed to empower entrepreneurs in the country and contribute to Qatar’s economic diversification during the 5thSocial Responsibility Conference.

Al Meera was honoured for its efforts to support startups and entrepreneurs by launching the “National Product” initiative, in collaboration with Bedaya Center and the Ministry of Economy and Commerce (MEC).

Under this initiative, local producers and startups in the food industry were offered with prominent shelf space at its Gulf Mall shopping centre, thereby providing entrepreneurs in the country with a premium platform to introduce their products to the market and sell them to consumers, it stated. – TradeArabia News Service