Elena I Athwal

So happy to be starting a new position as Research Fellow, UNESCO Chair on Environmental Law & Sustainable Development! Looking forward to harnessing research, teaching, knowledge exchange & intl cooperation on Environmental Law as a tool for advancing UN SDGs in the MENA region.

On Tuesday in Abidjan I sat in the audience for the ‘Spotlight – Qatar’ session of the Qatar Africa Business Forum (QABF) and listened to H.E. Mansoor Al-Khater, Chief Executive Officer of the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) Authority, make the case for Qatar to Africa. It was the most thoughtful account of our country’s intentions I have heard on a public stage this year.

His Excellency began by refusing the easy role. ‘We don’t want Qatar to be just a capital allocator. What we need to build is a long‑term partnership with Africa.’ The test, he said, is not how many projects are announced but whether the right partners are chosen and the right capability built, so that an announcement becomes ‘an executable asset, an operating asset’.

He then set out what Qatar itself had needed to get right, and offered it to the room as a benchmark rather than a template, because ‘Africa is not one country’: a clear vision and strategy carried through as an executive programme; infrastructure built ahead of demand; local champions allowed to grow into international companies; and ‘regulation stability, predictability and transparency’. He spoke very eloquently of patient capital, and of Islamic finance as an untapped source of it for African infrastructure.

And he closed with an image I will keep. Abidjan, he said, is the Switzerland of West Africa; Doha is the Switzerland of the Middle East; and there is Switzerland itself. ‘We need to create that triangle of connection, where the capital will flow and the confidence will come.’

I heard it as the founder of a QFC firm. ICELIS Global has been licensed in the Centre since its first year, and our work from Nairobi to Dakar to Abidjan is, in a small way, that triangle in practice: helping companies on both sides meet the governance, the due diligence and the reporting that long‑term capital expects. To hear the Centre’s own Chief Executive say it that clearly, on African soil, was a proud moment, and I am grateful to His Excellency for his gracious welcome.

My thanks go first to H.E. Sheikha Al Mayassa bint Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani and to H.E. Sheikh Fahad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Director of the Office of the Chairperson, under whose patronage and care the QABF keeps bringing the two sides of this story together, with Qatar Museums and the Qatar Investment Authority as official partner. To Fatma Ali Al-Khater and to Maryam Ramadan, thank you for two days handled with such grace, and such a warm welcome. To Hamad AlMaadeed of Qatar Museums, thank you for the kind company at the opening. And on stage, thank you to Elkhair Balla of Invest Qatar, and to Nasser Al Misnad of Beema and Khalid Al-Kubaisi of Malomatia, for such an interesting and excellent panel.

Photos: Qatar Financial Centre, and my own.

@athwal_i @icelisglobal

#QABF2026 #QatarFinancialCentre #QFC #QatarAfrica #Abidjan #ICELISGlobal #InvestQatar #GulfAfrica #Qatar #CôteDIvoire #ElenaAthwal

On Saturday, Episode 8 of @SDGsUnlocked takes up Goal 16. Eleven voices join Noura from Strasbourg to Kampala, opening with Judge Vasilka Sancin of @ECHR_CEDH . Produced with @icelisglobal .

Saturday 7 November, 4:00 PM Doha (GMT+3). Free: sdgsunlocked.org/register

A milestone I was honoured to witness: our President, Ahmed Essa Al-Sulaiti, and @CollinsNan, Head of the World Investment Forum, signed an MoU between @UNCTAD and the @ILAGulfCCouncil at #WIF2026 in Doha. @unctadwif @ILA_official

A highlight of my week at #WIF2026: our @ILAGulfCCouncil session 'Towards Trusted Global IP and Investment Governance', moderated by our President, Ahmed Essa Al-Sulaiti, with @UNCTAD @unctadwif and our host @MOCIQatar.