Qatar Daily News

One of the world’s most powerful energy industry executives believes Qatar will emerge as a world-class science and technological cluster.

Rex W. Tillerson, Chairman and CEO of Exxon Mobil Corporation, the world’s largest publicly traded international oil and gas company hailed Qatar’s emergence as a science and technology hub with the inauguration of QSTP on 16 March.

Michael J. Dolan, Senior Vice President of Exxon Mobil Corporation, will be among 1200 guests in Doha to witness the inauguration of QSTP in the presence of His Highness The Emir of Qatar Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani and Her Highness Sheikha Mozah Bint Nasser Al Missned, Chairperson of Qatar Foundation.
Read the rest of this entry »

MEMBERS of the Bloomsbury Qatar Foundation Publishing board held a reception at the Museum of Islamic Art, where officials promised that a “vibrant, dynamic and exciting list of books” will be published when the company starts operating in the Spring of 2010.

A $13.2mn agreement was signed between Qatar Foundation and Bloomsbury in October of last year, with the intention of stimulating literary excellence in the region by establishing a publishing house in Qatar.
Founder and chief executive of Bloomsbury, Nigel Newton, explained that there will be a number of initiatives involving the publishers, the first of which will the “World Book Day” on April 23. This will involve students from five schools to begin with, and is aimed at “getting children to enjoy reading for pleasure.”

He also mentioned that there will be creative writing courses on offer, to help develop more young writers in Qatar.
Read the rest of this entry »

The first celebrity concert of the 2009 Concert Series presented by the Qatar Foundation, in association with Qatar Shell, will commence on February 19 at the Qatar Academy Auditorium at 7 pm.

International opera star Sir Willard White, who will be visiting Doha for the second time, will be the featured guest artist of the night. He will be accompanied by pianist Steve Griffiths, Qatar Foundation Concert Series organiser. The night before the start of the Concert Series, White will perform with the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra at the Aspire Hall, Aspire Ladies Zone. “Sir Willard’s return visit will, I’m sure, be a cause for celebration among music lovers in Doha. His charismatic stage presence, coupled with his phenomenally rich bass-baritone voice, will undoubtedly ensure a special musical experience to remember for all who attend his performance here,” said Griffiths.

A number of operatic music, notably by Mozart and Tchaikovsky, will be featured during the night’s presentation, set alongside a selection of traditional American folk songs by Aaron Copland and extracts from musical theatre shows by Oscar Hammerstein and Loesser.

A selection of songs from the folk opera Porgy and Bess by George Gershwin will also be presented. “Sir Willard’s personal interpretation of the role of Porgy has been recognised as one of his most notable achievements throughout his eminent stage and recording career. The varied and entertaining programme will indeed reach out to an audience of varying types and tastes, especially as each item will be delivered not just with consummate vocal perfection but also a sense of theatrical panache,” said Griffiths.

The Peninsula

Nearly four years ago, the School of Foreign Service’s Qatar campus opened its doors within Education City. Now the campus is preparing to moving from a shared-building owned by the Qatar Foundation into a nearly 400,000-square-foot facility of its own.

The building, scheduled to open in fall 2010, will include classrooms, offices, a library and other facilities for more than 200 undergraduate and graduate students.

“The new facility will help us do better what we have already been doing for the past four years, which is to make Georgetown a living reality 6,000 miles from the Hilltop,” said School of Foreign Service-Qatar Dean James Reardon-Anderson. “We expect the building to feel and function like Georgetown, while having a look and location a bit removed from Healy Hall.

The Sidra Medical and Research Centre, under the Qatar Foundation, is the biggest healthcare project in the Gulf region, according to a research published recently.

Countries in the region are spending almost $14bn in the healthcare sector according to the Proleads, which maintains the most comprehensive database of the projects in the region.

The spending shows that despite the economic downturn, investment on healthcare is continuing across Gulf countries with a mixture of public, private and joint-venture initiatives.

Sidra, scheduled to open in 2011, is the first academic medical centre announced in the region based on the North American model. It is funded by $7.9bn endowment from the Qatar Foundation, the largest endowment of a medical and research centre anywhere in the world.
Read the rest of this entry »