 Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, warm welcome to the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed Al-Tani. Sheikh Mohammed, last time you were in Davos you were here as the Foreign Minister and now you also added the premiership. We've known each other for quite a few years. We were former colleagues too as Foreign Minister and I learned to know of you as very courageous and also a very very insightful governmental leader on behalf of your country and I think you also been through many difficult circumstances when you were a Foreign Minister but this has now resulted in the Emir also then appointing you as the Prime Minister. So congratulations on this new position. This annual meeting in Davos is taking place against the most complicated geopolitical landscape in decades and we were all hoping that the war in Gaza would not escalate to a full-fledged conflict in the region. The dual leadership also on the hostages but also trying to find and develop peace and reconciliation. It has helped but we also know that now we have the situation in the Red Sea and the Houthis attacks on the transportation on shipping. So could we start also with the Red Sea and also know the response from the Americans and the UK towards the Houthis. Who concerned are you also as the major LNG exporter in the world and this is very important shipping route also for Qatar. Will we see an end to this or is it more dangerous now and more likely with the further escalation and can the Americans and the British contain the Houthis. Well thank you Borgie for having me today and I would like to thank everyone who is participating in this session. As you mentioned you know our world is not getting easier and our jobs are not getting easier that's that's the bigger issue but look when we look at the situation in the region when it comes to the Palestinian issue it's a very central issue in the entire for the entire region and that's something being anticipated since the war started and we've been warning from the expansion and the spillover on the region which is would not be limited only to Gaza but it will get beyond and we have seen this escalation happening first in southern Lebanon and then Syria Iraq and now in the Red Sea which is we see like it's the most dangerous escalation right now because it's not affecting only the region it's affecting the global trade as well. Of course this has changed even how we view the international trade how we view international shipping how interconnected we are from east to west whenever something happening in the Middle East it's affecting everyone. Of course LNG is as any other you know merchant shipments they will be affected by that there are alternative routes those alternative routes are not more efficient they are less efficient than the current route but also I believe that if we want to address the issue we need to address the real issue the central the central issue which is Gaza in order to get everything else diffused otherwise if we are just focusing on on the symptoms and not treating the real issue it will be temporary. Right now we see we are highly concerned about further escalation of course now we see that there are some retaliations from the US and UK and who is trying to refrain them from disrupting the international trade but yet this is also will create a higher risk of further escalation and further expansion of that. We always prefer diplomacy over any military resolutions and we believe that we shouldn't just focus on on those small conflicts we should focus on the main conflict in Gaza and as soon as it's diffused I believe everything else will be diffused we have seen this throughout the six days seven days of truth that we had in Gaza for the hostages release it's just shut down all the other fronts at the same time so it's showing you the effect of that central issue. And thank you for your contribution when it comes again to the hostages but also when it came to the truth the war has now been going on for a hundred days but we'll come back to the Palestinian issue two-state solution and all this but I'm just wondering and also following up on what you said with now the attacks on the on the Houthis and the danger for further escalation I guess the international community could not ignore the attacks on international shipping but at the same time what I understand is that the Houthis have been mainly attacking with drones for some missiles but to then really address the Houthi challenge I guess drones can be sent from everywhere and we know that Yemen is a very vast territory and is it possible even for great military powers to then contain the capacities of the Houthis to attack in the Red Sea? Well look of course you know affecting the freedom of navigation is as I mentioned is a global issue and it's needed to be contained as I mentioned military resolution will not will not bring an end for this will not contain it it's the contrary I think it will create you know a further escalation because just imagine the attacks are continuing whatever the retaliation is that acts are are just continuing and we have seen that the retaliation that took place like three days ago the response on on the Houthis attack it resulted with another attack yesterday and it's just going to grow and we see that there is no resolution without having them on the table addressing this issue seriously and this issue that affecting everyone you also saw Iranian attacks in Erbil yesterday I guess this is not mainly related to the the Houthis that's probably related to what took place in Iran well we don't have much information about the attack that occurred in Kurdistan but I think that what we have right now in the region is that there's a recipe of escalation everywhere and even we cannot disconnect this from the attack for example in Kerman and Iran a few weeks ago by ISIS normally when you see any turbulence in the region you start to see different players popping up here and there and that's that's the biggest problem yeah and there has though been in the last year some positive developments when it comes to GCC countries and their relationship with Iran there's been a rapprochement between the UAE and Iran also rapprochement between Saudi Arabia and and Iran do you think that will and of course you you always had a dialogue with with Tehran is that continuing and is there any way to deal also with the situation with the Houthis and and and with Lebanon and also with Gaza with the dialogue with Iran or is that an impulse well look Iran and the GCC are neighbors and the rapprochement between us is is a necessity it's not a luxury that we are seeking I think that it's we have a common understanding among the GCC countries that it's very important to be focused on how to engage with Iran how to create a better ground of common interest and common understanding between us and build on that and really deal with our differences by dialogue by addressing the issues face-to-face and we believe there is a great opportunity and this momentum still continuing within the GCC we have seen those throughout the different meetings and just imagine the great potential if GCC and Iran coming together economically even if you are looking at it from that perspective and also it's impact on regional security when we have serious and honest dialogue about different issues in the region that can be contained by all those countries being together coming back to Gaza a hundred days of war we were together in 2014 in the reconstruction conference for Gaza in Cairo where the Qatari garment pledged a lot in which garment did too and we co-hosted it with the Egyptians I guess there no need to be a new donors conference but it's not easy to start to rebuild for the third time without a political solution I guess there will be also less willingness to contribute if there is not a political path so what what is a realistic end game of this Gaza situation will the Israelis continue to go back to the situation before 2005 and when Sharon pulled out of Gaza will they stay is that sustainable what are the options and what do you think the international community will put out there as preconditions to support because now a million people are without houses water sanitation well look after the war in 2014 and the reconstruction conference that being co-hosted between Norway and Egypt we have heard and we have seen like a lot of countries pledging significant amounts for for reconstructions but really not much we are willing to go in and to rebuild and they ended up just as an announcement and this is because most of the countries they don't believe in the sustainability of the situation and we have seen and lived that throughout this period and having different like from time to time almost every year an escalation that's happening and was maybe on on a limited scale but there were a lot of escalation and destruction right now and looking at the situation and the amount of bombing that had and destruction that happened in Gaza around more than 23,000 people being killed two-third of them women children is not there anymore I mean there is nothing over there let's carpet bombing everywhere and it's it's need like it needs like rebuilding an entire city again after this I don't see that there is you know like a magic word going back to the status before 7th of October and you will see all the countries coming back and injecting funds there to reconstruct it unless we address the real issue which is the two-state solution right now unfortunately we see that you know there are some politicians who thought that this matter can just be put under the rug and people will forget about it and what happened after 7th of October is showing all of us that this issue is a very central issue not for the region but for the entire world the war in Gaza and even the response of the international community on the war in Gaza has been unfortunately very disappointing for the region and for the people of the region and we see that for the first time I mean in the recent history we see even calling for ceasefire became a controversial term in such a situation and I think that there is right now there are there is only one path that you know is an active path which is the one about the hostages ceasefire and exchange of hostages and it's going through a lot of difficulties and unfortunately also is going under a lot of scrutiny by parties of the conflict yet we believe that the bigger picture cannot be ignored we need to address it right now we need to address the how to end the war as possible how to get the hostages release and getting also the Palestinian prisoners to address the issue in the West Bank which is maybe the media are not capturing a lot of what's happening over there but what's happening in the West Bank is is not better than it's not mass bombing yes but we see the killing the settler violence we see the extremist government calling for genocide for the Palestinian people and we don't see any reaction from the international community we were always questioning that what if these kind of statements or this kind of behavior coming out of another country will we see the silence from the international community I don't think so I believe we need to step up to our responsibility we need to address both issues we need to address the Palestinian division we need to address the two-state solution those three tracks are moving hands-in-hands they cannot move independently we cannot have two-state solution without having ending the Palestinian division we cannot have a two-state solution without having a government and politicians in Israel who believes in coexisting together side-by-side peacefully and we cannot have all this ongoing without ending this war and I believe that the numbers that we are seeing the images that we are watching will not have an impact just on the short term it will have an impact on the short medium and long term and the longer term impact will be more dangerous for all of us just imagine those kids and families watching their relatives their parents being killed in the bombing what kind of generation we expect what kind of generation we expect in our region or even in Europe elsewhere watching all these images and seeing the world just staying silent about it it will just create you know a raging anger you were mentioning that the can was kicked down the road for many years on the two-state solution this has again brought that to the top of the agenda but who could you see a possible political solution today for a two-state solution of course it has to start in Ramallah with the political the Palestinian leadership there with also Fata it will also need that Tel Aviv and Jerusalem is willing to go back to where we were in 2000 the Oslo principles do you think that it's so much political pressure on this that we will see momentum and second who will then represent the Palestinians do you see Hamas playing any role in that or is that a non-starter both for the US and Israel well look I think your question is a very complex with with a lot of components in it but I will try to simplify my answer here there are multiple issues and you know and what you have just addressed first negotiating the solution is not a solution always in any conflicts around the world we put the solution and then we negotiate how to implement that solution the problem that we had post Oslo that how to negotiate a solution which is not really something that brought us to a closure at the end so right now everyone knows that the solution is two states 1967 border there are some outstanding issues in the implementation yes they cannot address this but it needed to be time-bound needed to be reversible so we cannot stay hostages of election here election here or there that will change their view on on the vision so we need something that really make every the resolution mandatory for any party who will come to power in Israel and you know we were hearing some Israelis officials especially after 7th of October that they are seeking for peace and they are the ones who wants the solution and the Arabs they don't want the solution we have heard you know one of the speeches I think it was in the Security Council a month ago that they are the ones for peace but if we go back historically and I believe everyone can just research this the Arabs they were the ones who are coming up with solutions and proposals and it's never been accepted once by the Israelis and even accepting to talk about them so we need to see a recognition by the international community that we cannot leave this just at the hand of the Israelis now on the Palestinian issue like the inter-parist issue all of us we understand there was a division the PA is facing a lot of challenges but we never asked ourselves why these challenges occurred in the first place what is what is what is the reason behind it who made them you know paralyzed and not empowered to really govern over there the PA basically they don't governs all everything is controlled by Israel West Bank they go in and out and they just dominated they just dominated from security building new settlements over there and we see all these things are you know complicating any hope for a resolution about your question on Hamas Hamas look whatever disagreements whatever we see those are part of the Palestinian political system and the Palestinian people those are the only ones who have the choice to have them as part of the resolution or not it's not our choice nor the Israelis or anyone choice it's you know at the end we always say that you cannot if there is a difference in disagreement in the ideology of course I mean the conduct is something else then you have to replace it with a better idea and the better idea is to bring the two-stay solution back on the table and we see a growing recognition now by a lot of our partners internationally of course we hear a lot from the US now about the necessity of having this on a track as soon as possible and this is very important US is playing a key role in this a central role in this and they can we believe that they can bring the parties back together it's 24 years ago Clinton at Camp David had the plan there and Yasser Arafat and also the Israeli leadership was there we were very close to a two-state solution mainly based on on the principles that you laid out 24 years later we're not in such a good shape Gaza is a humanitarian disaster the situation also in the West Bank is difficult but if you saw Israeli government that was willing to go back to the principles behind also the Camp David agreement mainly 67 borders also then the two-state solution what kind of guarantees do you think then the Israelis would have needed in such a situation that that would not end up as an area where they will be attacked by rockets and etc this is no one of the arguments on their side do you think one could guarantee that in a two state solution well I think as even as Arabs when we propose the Arab peace initiative that provides the best guarantee for Israel to have to give the Palestinians their statehood Arabs will normalize with them and then they will have everything can be arranged as security guarantees as you know as a security architecture for for the entire region in order to ensure that there is no anymore wars in that area and I think that we have seen this willingness by all of all the countries I'm speaking about my own country Qatar after Madrid and Oslo we were the first country that brought the Israeli mission trade mission we signed the relationship with Israel we were hoping that there will be a path forward toward peace yet from there to 2008 and we when we have seen the war we decided that this is not working anymore and we believe that not addressing the real issue and having a clarity about getting the Palestinians their statehood normalization and having you know relationships with it with Israel will not will not help in resolving is we just will just to drag the issue as I mentioned to be forgotten and that's I think that we are in a moment where all of us we are showing our willingness to extend our hands to have an agreement a peace agreement with Israel if they are willing to engage genuinely in a process that will make the Palestinians having their states at that I think we could have continued for another 45 minutes one hour on this one but we also have the opening session with Chinese Premier coming up but I would like at the end maybe to look at it's in a broader context also of course your leadership in Qatar fast growing economy I think you have a reform plan also as Prime Minister that's one thing but you're also seeing that your work on peace and reconciliation is highly appreciated but it's also quite difficult in the fragmented polarized world so maybe you can share with us in one minute also the secret sauce on how you have managed that so two minutes on the Qatar economic development and one minute on the secret sauce and then one minute our time thank you for them well regarding regarding our plans I believe that we are going through a very exciting moment the country over the last two decades have invested heavily in the infrastructure and the energy infrastructure around 200 and 200 billion dollars being invested in the infrastructure just in the last 10 years we have created national champions one of the top 10 sovereign wealth fund the best airline in the world and the energy business being an energy leader for the sovereign wealth fund have the CEO here and I believe right now the government is looking at how can we capitalize on all what we have built and the government role is moving from being a developer to an enabler and to empower the private sector to take a leadership role we have in the next year we will be very much focused on reforming our policies and changing some of the regulations to lift the barriers on on businesses we are allocating billions to stimulate the private sector and to enable them in order to lead the growth we want to prepare to create a prepared workforce for our country of course we have seen you know the excitement cross sectors one of the examples in the tourism sector when you see the potential in 2022 during the World Cup we welcomed around 2.6 million people this year we closed 4 million people which is showing you the growth and the potential in the country itself of course the north field expansion will represent 40 percent of the additional supplies in the LNG in the world by 2029 thank you from Europe welcome sir regarding our you know our policy and the our role in international peace and security look mediation is is central in our foreign policy and it's part of our constitution even we always believe you know that it's very vital as a small country this is giving you agility and flexibility to move faster to create good relationship with everyone that can help and we see that this is our contribution for global peace and security and you know always his highness the amir he's been very clear that whatever we get you know as as they say no good deeds go unpunished and you know whatever we get as criticism and scrutiny sometimes because that we maintain all these relationships with everyone if it's will end up saving a single life it's worth it that's that's how we how we work and you start you are hearing sometimes you know some politicians are trying to score some political points here and there going after Qatar role but you know at the end of the day our actions the ones which have proven we have proven that throughout conflicts not in the region even beyond that region going Ukraine and Venezuela child in Africa Djibouti Eritrea in Gaza recently with the hostages what really what resulted with there is with the release of 109 hostages was the negotiation wasn't the military operation and that's showing the power of negotiations let's give the prime minister a big thank you and a big applause