Qatar 2022 will be one of the best you have ever seen says FM

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs HE Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani has said that hosting the World Cup has been a blessing and FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 will be one of the best editions.

“Hosting the World Cup has been a blessing. We are very proud of it and we are very confident that this World Cup will be one of the best you have ever seen,” said Sheikh Mohammed in an interview with ‘The Frankfurter Allgemeine’.

The FM said some people cannot digest the fact that a small Arab country is hosting the soccer World Cup.

“It seems difficult for some to accept that a small country, a small Arab country, should be allowed to host the soccer World Cup. Racist cliches also keep cropping up. But that is not the case everywhere for a long time. There are fewer than ten countries from which such sharp criticism comes. The rest of the world is happy for us. 97 percent of the tickets have already been sold. That is a clear sign,” he noted.

The FM said “First, it sends a strong message to the world and the region. For the first time in history, a World Cup is taking place in a small Arab country, in a region that has always been the subject of crises and violence. Now comes a moment when all of us, as Arabs, as people in the Middle East, can show that we are able to come together and celebrate such an event with the world.”

He continued, “We have said from day one that this should be a World Cup for all Arabs. And we believe that this will also make other countries in our region believe that one day they will be able to host major events like this. This will change the sentiments and the atmosphere in the region. Secondly, the developments that have taken place in our country are not developments for four weeks. They are developments for eternity and for generations to come. “

The FM said Qatar has always been open to constructive criticism of its labor laws or its system.

“We have opened our doors to non-governmental organisations and international human rights organisations and have engaged constructively with their work and their demands. But when a government that supposedly cooperates with us and knows about all developments and reforms makes statements based on misinformation and creates a false image, we cannot accept that,” he pointed out.

He said Qatar is one of the safest countries in the world. “We have repeated time and again from the highest levels that everyone is welcome and no one is discriminated against.”

The FM said, “We want to have good relations with everyone in the East and in the West. The West has been our traditional ally for four decades, and we have worked very closely with the West. We have helped our partners there, they have helped us. And that’s what partnerships in the East are all about. We have done a lot of business, a lot of trade, also in terms of energy supply. We don’t want to be drawn into this polarization that is unfortunately going on. The Europeans and the West have to understand that. Friendship is not a one-way street. That is what we expect and demand from everyone.”‘97% of the tickets have already been sold’