What Qatar is looking for in Russia

At a meeting in Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Deputy Prime Minister, Foreign Minister of Qatar Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani exchanged views on issues that concern both Russia and the Gulf countries. Russia highly appreciates Qatar's efforts to resolve the situation in Afghanistan, Lavrov said. "Qatar's efforts to promote a process that will involve all Afghan political, ethnic and other forces are, of course, very important in order to prevent relapses of violence and in the interests of forming government institutions and taking into account the interests of all segments of Afghan society," he stressed.

Qatar plays the role of the main mediator between the Taliban and the West. The Emirate has received a large number of Afghan refugees, and the topic of migrants was one of the main one during the negotiations. And together with Turkey, Qatar created a consortium to manage the international airport in Kabul, as a result of which the air harbour of Afghanistan started working again in a relatively short period.

It is clear that Doha's active role in the Afghan issue cannot but cause concern among its main competitors in the Middle East, primarily the UAE, where the Afghan political elite has concentrated its financial assets for many years. Abu Dhabi is a long-time competitor of Qatar for a niche in the Afghan dossier.

Meanwhile, Qatar claims to be a leader in the Islamic world. It was Doha, together with Islamabad, that helped the Taliban to negotiate with the outside world and eventually brought it to power in Afghanistan. But the UAE is not going to abandon its ambitious plans either. And it's Afghanistan who risks to become an arena for clarifying competitive relations.

Qatar needs allies to strengthen its influence. Especially that Russia is not a competitor in Afghanistan for it. Already back in March, commenting on the trilateral meeting of the foreign ministers of Qatar, Russia and Turkey, Lavrov noted that the settlement process in Afghanistan is not a subject of rivalry with the Qatari partners.

Despite the absolute importance of the political agenda that was discussed in Moscow, the economic component is no less topical. We are talking about the proposed construction of the TAPI main gas pipeline, which is supposed to run from the gas fields of Turkmenistan through the territory of Afghanistan, Pakistan and India to the sea terminals. The implementation of the Chinese project of the New Silk Road should also affect the economy of the region as a whole.

These plans worry Qatar as the largest producer and supplier of liquefied natural gas (LNG). The Emirate, being a member of OPEC, is also a prominent exporter of oil and petroleum products. The United States tried to impose on Europe gas supplies from Qatar as an alternative to Nord Stream 2 . During the period of COVID restrictions, Doha really began to export gas to Europe, but when fuel prices fell, it had to abandon this idea. It is much more profitable for Qatar to send LNG to the Asian market, since it is quite predictable.

Qatar has moved from fierce competition with Russia in this area to certain agreements, and judging by the expanding diplomatic and economic contacts, these processes will deepen. One can only guess what was discussed during the visit of the Qatari Foreign Minister, perhaps it was also about the creation of a bilateral "mini-gas OPEC". In any case, following the meeting, it was announced that a meeting of the Russian-Qatari commission on trade, economic and technical cooperation will be held offline in Doha by the end of this year.

For Russia, relations with Qatar are also relevant in terms of expanding cooperation with Iran. After all, Qatar is the only country in the region that has almost allied relations with the Islamic Republic.

For more than 20 years, Qatar and Iran have been jointly developing one of the world's largest gas fields – South Pars. There is a free trade regime between them.

It should be noted that both Russia and Iran within the framework of the EAEU in 2020 transformed the temporary regime of the free trade zone into a permanent one and at the same time expand the range of goods included in this zone. Qatar can also take advantage of this and make its own proposals. Until recently, Russia exported agricultural products to Qatar, and later used its ports as stations for re-exporting its products. Now Qatar will have a similar opportunity.

Cooperation with Qatar is also important for Russia because the share of Western equipment and maintenance of its oil and gas industry, according to available estimates, exceeds 65%. Moreover, this equipment needs to be updated. Perhaps, through trade relations with Qatar, this problem will be partially solved.

However, this is a task of a current nature. The strategic goal of Russia, as well as Qatar, is to get away from import dependence in the oil and gas sector from the West. Therefore, Moscow attaches special importance to a new level of cooperation – the joint production of oil and gas equipment. Both countries have serious developments in this area. In terms of the depth of oil refining, Qatar is ahead of Russia (95 and 75%, respectively).

And it is in the same plane – to get rid of dependence from the United States and its partners – that Qatar's interest in Russian information technologies lies. It is known that Doha is striving to create its own powerful IT pool. Why not to join our forces?

It is Interesting that Al-Thani flew from Moscow to Kabul, where he held talks with the Prime Minister of Afghanistan, Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund. The Doha envoy became the first senior foreign official to visit Kabul after it was captured by the Taliban in August. As the Qatari Foreign Ministry reported, its head called on the country's new leaders to "involve all parties in Afghanistan in national reconciliation”.

Elena Panina - Director of the RUSSTRAT Institute