Text of From Ukrainian Foreign Ministry
RELATIONS
Bilateral relations between Ukraine and the State of Qatar
1. Date of Ukraine’s recognition: April 13, 1993.
2. Establishment of diplomatic relations: April 13, 1993.
3. Political dialogue:
High-level contacts:
October 19-20, 2011: Visit of the Emir of the State of Qatar to Ukraine.
May 8-9, 2012: Official visit of the Prime Minister of Ukraine to Qatar.
November 27-28, 2012: Official visit of the President of Ukraine to Qatar.
March 19-20, 2018: Official visit of the President of Ukraine to Qatar.
April 4-5, 2021: Official visit of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to Qatar.
On the sidelines of international events, meetings between the President of Ukraine and the Emir of Qatar took place at the 71st session of the UN General Assembly in the United States on September 19, 2016, and at the UN Climate Change Conference COP26 in Glasgow, United Kingdom, on November 1, 2021.
Phone conversations between the President of Ukraine and the Emir of Qatar took place on May 6, 2020, August 26, 2021, February 24, 2022, March 2, 2022, March 9, 2022, and October 10, 2022.
Dialogue at the level of foreign affairs ministries:
Visits of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine to Qatar took place on January 2002, January 2011, October 4, 2017, and April 4-5, 2021.
On September 7, 2017, the Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Qatar visited Ukraine.
On the sidelines of international events, meetings of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Qatar took place at the Munich Security Conference in Germany on February 13, 2016, and at the 72nd session of the UN General Assembly in the United States on September 20, 2017.
Phone conversations between the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Qatar took place on March 31, 2020, May 7, 2020, February 24, 2022, March 3, 2022, March 13, 2022, and March 15, 2022.
On March 26-27, 2022, on the sidelines of the Doha Forum First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine had a protocol meeting with the Emir of Qatar and with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar.
On March 5, 2023, on the sidelines of the Second Part of the Fifth UN Conference on the Least Developed Countries (March 5-9, 2023, Doha), the Special Representative of Ukraine for the Middle East and Africa had a protocol meeting with the Emir of Qatar and with the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Qatar.
Political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and Qatar were first held in March 2009 in Kyiv, the second round took place on April 15, 2019, in Kyiv, and the third round on February 28, 2021, in Doha at the level of deputy ministers.
Interparliamentary Cooperation:
On February 10, 2020, a parliamentary group of Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for interparliamentary relations with the State of Qatar was established. The group consists of 16 members of parliament.
In the Shura Council of Qatar there is no practice of creating parliamentary groups for interparliamentary relations with individual countries. However, regional friendship groups have been functioning since February 2022, including the “Qatar-European” group, which consists of 8 members.
From March 15 to 17, 2023, a delegation from Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, headed by the First Deputy Chairman of Verkhovna Rada, visited Doha to hold a meeting with representatives of the Shura Council of Qatar and the Deputy Speaker of the Shura Council of Qatar.
Existing high-level bilateral mechanisms:
The Joint Commission on Economic, Trade, and Technical Cooperation between the Government of Ukraine and the Government of the State of Qatar (The First Session took place in Doha on November 14-15, 2018, and the Second Session was held in Kyiv on August 31-September 2, 2021). The Co-Chairs of the Commission are the Minister of Finance of Ukraine and the Minister of Trade and Industry of the State of Qatar.
4. Trade and Economic Cooperation:
The total volume of foreign trade in goods and services between Ukraine and Qatar in 2021 amounted to 166.71 million USD (146.69 million USD in 2020), which is currently the largest indicator in the entire history of Ukrainian-Qatari diplomatic relations.
The structure of Ukrainian commodity exports to Qatar in 2021 was represented by the following groups of goods – ferrous metals (54.3%), miscellaneous (17.6%), fats and oils (12.8%), food industry residues (4.2%), ferrous metal products (2.9%), etc.
The structure of Ukrainian imports from Qatar in 2021 consisted of the following commodity items – plastics, polymeric materials (78%), organic chemical compounds (13.9%), inorganic chemical products (7.9%), etc.
Trade in services between Ukraine and Qatar in 2021 amounted to 8.69 million USD. Export of services from Ukraine amounted to 6.45 million USD, imports amounted to 5.74 million USD. Ukraine’s positive balance for the specified period of 2021 is $0.7 million USD.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of December 31, 2021, direct foreign investments from Qatar to Ukraine amount to USD 7.9 million.
5. Cultural and Humanitarian Cooperation:
Doha regularly welcomes various creative and artistic groups from Ukraine, as well as well-known Ukrainian athletes and representatives of the Ukrainian National Teams in various sports who participate in international cultural and sports events.
In January 2020, the Ukrainian Institute gained full membership in the General Assembly of the Global Public Diplomacy Network and established a partnership with the leading Qatari institution in this field, Katara Cultural Village.
In September 2020, art platform was launched in Qatar – the virtual museum “Ukraine: Art of the New Era”. Its purpose is to properly represent Ukraine in Qatar and introduce the Qatari audience to contemporary Ukraine, the achievements of Ukrainian art, and the creative work of Ukrainian artists.
In April 2021, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed regarding the implementation of a Ukrainian-language audio guide in museums in the State of Qatar. This memorandum was the first of its kind with a country in the Middle East and North Africa region.
On November 25, 2022, the inaugural launch of the Ukrainian-language audio guide took place at the Qatar National Museum, initiated by the First Lady of Ukraine. Ukrainian became the second foreign language, after English, to provide audio guidance for the museum’s exhibition.
Tourism remains an important aspect of cultural and humanitarian cooperation since the establishment of direct daily air connections between Doha and Kyiv in August 2017, as well as the implementation of the bilateral intergovernmental agreement on visa-free travel, which came into effect on November 2, 2018. These developments have significantly increased the number of Ukrainian tourists visiting Qatar prior to the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.
6. Scientific and Technical Cooperation:
Cooperation in the fields of education, science, and technology between Ukraine and the State of Qatar is based on the Memorandum of Understanding between the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine and the Government of the State of Qatar on Cooperation in the Field of Education and Scientific Research, signed on May 8, 2012.
In 2018, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and the University of Qatar. This document aims to facilitate practical cooperation between leading educational institutions in Ukraine and Qatar, enhance student contacts, and promote the exchange of experience among teachers and researchers, among other activities.
7. Contractual and Legal Framework:
The contractual and legal framework of Ukrainian-Qatari relations consists of 28 bilateral documents.
8. Ukrainian Community:
Due to legislative restrictions, formal associations of Ukrainian citizens in Qatar are absent. According to the latest official data, there are 1,387 Ukrainian citizens residing in Qatar with residence permits. According to the expert estimates, the number of Ukrainians in Qatar before the implementation of quarantine restrictions exceeded 2,000 individuals. During the work with the diaspora, one of the main consolidating factors of the Ukrainian community has been the revival of classes in the Friday school for children at the Embassy of Ukraine.
9. Diplomatic Representation of Ukraine: