President Bola Tinubu’s planned visit to Qatar for a Business/Investment meeting is back on track after the Qatari Government said on Sunday the occasion will go ahead.
This was after the Qatar Embassy in Abuja had notified the Nigerian government that the minister of commerce and industry Mohammed Bin Hamad Al-Thani will not be available to host Tinubu and his visiting delegation, who are scheduled to visit between March 2-3. The embassy wrote in a letter to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: “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.”
The Presidency had submitted that Tinubu regardless of the Business/Investment meeting will still go ahead with his visit.
“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.”
