'US, Qatar deals to generate $1.2tn in economic exchange'

 

DOHA: Agreements signed by US President Donald Trump and #Qatar's Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani on Wednesday will "generate an economic exchange worth at least $1.2 tril-Hon", the White House said in a fact sheet summarising some of the deals' details.

The agreements include a $96 billion deal with Qatar Air-ways to buy up to 210 Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 777X air-planes with GE Aerospace engines, the fact sheet said. They also include a statement of intent that could lead to $38 bil-lion in investments at Qatar's Al Udeid Air Base and other air defense and maritime security capabilities, it said.

"The landmark deals cele brated today will drive innova tion and prosperity for genera-tions, bolster American manu-facturing and technological leadership, and put America on the path to a new Golden Age," the White House said.

General Atomics also secured a nearly $2 billion agreement for Qatar to acquire MQ-9B drones, according to the White House.

And the two countries signed a statement of intent to bolster security partnerships that out-lines over $28 billion in poten-tial investments.

The White House also touted partnerships between McDer-mott International Ltd. and Qatar Energy worth $8.5 billion as well as 30 projects worth up to $97 billion for Parsons Corp.

President Donald Trump met with Syria's interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in Saudi Ara-bia on Wednesday, the first such encounter between the two nations' leaders in 25 years.

While aboard Air Force One en route to Qatar. Trump poured praise on al-Sharaa, say ing the meeting went "great" and describing the leader as a "young, attract guy. Strong pa past. Fighter".

The meeting in Saudi Arabia is a milestone for a man who joined Al-Qaeda in Iraq around the time of the 2003 US-led invasion and spent years in US prison there before returning to Syria to join the insurgency against Bashar al-Assad.

Al-Sharaa was long better known as Abu Mohammad al-Golani, his nom de guerre as commander of the Nusra Front, an insurgent group fighting al-Assad and for years Al-Qaeda's official wing in the Syrian conflict.

He cut ties with Al-Qaeda in 2016, gradually recasting his group as part of the Syrian revo-lution rather than global jihad.

In the meeting on Wednes day, US president urged his Syr-ian counterpart to normalise ties with Israel after offering a major boost to the war-ravaged country by vowing to lift eco-nomic sanctions.