President Bola Tinubu’s trip to Qatar for an investment and business roundtable has been reportedly declined.
This was mentioned in a letter dated February 22, 2024, from the State of Qatar’s Embassy in Abuja to the Nigerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Protocol Department.
The president was supposed to visit Qatar on March 2 and 3, 2024.
However, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Qatar expressed regret in the letter for turning down the suggested business visit. The letter was received by the ministry on February 23, 2024.
“The Embassy of the State of Qatar in Abuja presents its compliments to the Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Regarding the upcoming state visit of H. E. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Qatar from March 2 and 3, 2024 and with reference to your note: Ref: ME.631 2024 dated 12/02/2024, which proposed the holding of a business and investment forum on the margins of Mr President’s visit to Qatar on March 2, 2024.
“The Embassy has the honour to inform that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Qatar apologises that it will not be able to hold a business and investment forum as proposed by the Nigerian side,” part of the letter read.
The embassy stated that “there is no agreement signed between the State of Qatar and the Federal Republic of Nigeria on investment promotion and protection.
“His Excellency, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, will be carrying out official missions outside the country during the upcoming visit period.
“The State of Qatar will be hosting a web summit during the suggested period and the state’s authorities will be preoccupied with this event.”
The Presidency asserted that Tinubu was not shunned by the Qatar government.
It clarified that a number of activities were scheduled in advance of the President’s official visit to the Gulf nation, including the controversial investment forum between the business communities of Qatar and Nigeria.
“It is not correct for anyone to insinuate that the Qatari authorities have snubbed the Nigerian leader over a business and investment forum which is tangential to the all-important state visit and which President Tinubu is slated to attend as a guest,” a statement signed by Bayo Onanuga, Special Adviser on Information and Strategy to the President, on Saturday read.
Responding to a leaked note between the foreign ministries of both nations, Onanuga issued a statement titled “President Bola Tinubu’s state visit to Qatar.” It stated that Tinubu was expected to travel to Qatar on the scheduled state visit and that he would hold high-level bilateral conversations with the leader of Qatar on a wide range of significant issues, including diplomatic and fiscal matters.
The Presidency said, “We are aware of a leaked diplomatic correspondence between the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Abuja and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s state visit to Qatar between March 2 and 3, 2024.
“The leaked diplomatic paper by mischief makers about an investment forum is not in any way a snub of President Tinubu by the Qatari government.”
