Journey 'makeover' of Qatar, where people live without tax

Living conditions of Qatar's people who once caused American journalist Scott Pelley to say: "Life is like that in heaven."

"Just like Heaven"

In the article published on Telegraph, British journalist Victoria Scott, who had 6 years living in Qatar shared what she saw, headphones in this small Gulf country.

According to Scott, in Qatar people do not need to get out of the car to refuel. There will be gas station staff doing that, even in the middle of the hot summer, when the outdoor temperature reaches 50 degrees Celsius. Moreover, gasoline there is cheaper than bottled water. Scott said: To fill a 4x4 SUV - about 100 liters of gasoline - only 10 pounds, or 300,000 dong (2012).

If you park your car in front of the restaurant and honk, there will be people coming to take the item and bring it to you when everything is over.

Scott once asked his followers on Twitter, "What do they mean by them in Qatar?" And she got answers like: Buy an iPhone without thinking or taking a vacation without a 5-star utility, "not standard".

According to Business Insider, when it comes to buying something that is not available in Qatar, people in the country are ready to fly to Dubai, even Europe to buy the goods they want.

The living conditions of Qatar's people have caused Scott Pelley, host of the 60 minutes program of CBS (USA) to say: "It sounds like life in paradise".

Qatar people do not have to pay personal income tax. Electricity, health care, education are all free. Even as Qatar's Prime Minister Sheik Hamid bin Jasim, even when the people died, their funeral will be paid by the Government: " Everything is free. That has become a part of our culture ".

So how rich are Qatar's people?

Qatar's population is about 2.6 million but only 313,000 people are from Qatar, according to a recent study by Jure Snoj. And these people have an average annual income of $ 400,000 (more than 9 billion) even though 92% of working-age people only work in government agencies, government.

Qatar's GDP per capita in 2016 is at the top of the world at USD 155,000. The Qatar royal family has more valuable real estate in London than the British royal family.

Qatar Prime Minister Sheik Hamid bin Jasim.

The reason is that the small Arab country is only equal to the size of the state of Connecticut, USA (about 3 times more than Hanoi) is among the top countries that possess the world's precious natural resources: oil and gas.

From tents to urban areas, from camels to Boeing 747

Qatar's transformation is not a long process. Fahad al Attiyah, one of the advisers of the Qatari Royal Family, said that the change took place in only one generation.

"The miracle is that my father's time has changed from living in a tent to living in an urban environment, from moving by camel, now we are traveling by Boeing 747. Such changes are only for a short period of time. really surprising. "

Catching pearls in Qatar.

Previously, Qatar was a small, poor country, home to several thousand fishermen catching pearls and nomadic tribes.

From the beginning of the 20th century, when Qatar became a protectorate of the United Kingdom, Qatar was under the rule of the Al-Thani family, starting with Sheikh Abdullah Bin Qassim Al-Thani from July 17, 1913. At that time, Qatar's main industry was catching pearls and fish. The country was engulfed in poverty and disease when the pearls were defeated in the 1920s.

The discovery of oil and gas in 1940 began to bring wealth but the finding was nothing compared to the natural gas reserves found 30 years later.

Qatar's North Field gas field.

In 1971, the world's largest natural gas field South Pars / North Dome was discovered off Qatar. At that time, petroleum products were still popular, so this gas field was not developed, but thanks to the North Field (part of South Pars / North Dome), Qatar became a country with large natural gas reserves. third world with about 896 trillion blocks.

By 1980, oil prices unexpectedly dropped sharply, making Qatar's economy slow down. The crisis forced Qatar to exploit the North Field gas field in 1989. However, it was not until 1995 that when Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani came to power, Qatar was "stripped".

So how did King Hamad do to raise Qatar's influence?

First, he let the United States set up his headquarters at the outskirts of Doha. In 1996 Qatar built a billion-dollar giant air base, Al-Udeid, where the headquarters of the US Army Command Center and logistics facilities were located. Partnership with the US has helped Qatar achieve unprecedented levels of security.

Al-Udeid military base.

While the former monarch avoided interfering with international affairs for fear of distracting powerful neighbors, Hamad took another stance. He believes that resignation can also be dangerous.

In the same year, King Hamad gave birth to Al Jazeera - a 24-hour news agency based on Muslim views.

"Al Jazeera has shown Qatar with an important role in the region," said William Youmans, a communications expert at George Washington University. "It's really about promoting image, prestige and image. enjoy Qatar ".

After that, Hamad monarch continued to bring Qatar's deep and wide access to the global economy. One of the first things Sheikh Hamad did was to promote the development of the North Dome gas field. At this time Qatar began exporting liquefied natural gas for the first time.

Sultan Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, Qatar leader 1995-2013.

He built the world's largest infrastructure to handle liquefied natural fuels, which are being exported to Europe, Japan and India. Within 15 years, 14 facilities were built in cooperation with foreign oil companies.

Thanks to oil and gas, Qatar has accumulated $ 170 billion. With this money, Qatar continues to expand its investment. In 2003, Qatar established Qatar State Investment Authorization Company (QIA) to coordinate oil and gas revenues with other income streams.

QIA has invested heavily in banks and large businesses such as Barclays, Credit Suisse, Harrods, Porsche, Volkswagen, and also holds the majority of shares of the Paris Saint-Germain team.

By 2006, 35 years after the discovery of the gas field, Qatar had surpassed Indonesia, becoming the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas. Revenue from oil and gas accounts for 60% of Qatar's GDP.

The appearance of Qatar changed quickly. Doha of 1977 is different from the modern, flashy Doha. However, whether Qatar will become the Hong Kong of the Middle East or sink into the unstable "quagmire" of this complex area is still an unanswered question.