Qatar and the UK have explored opportunities in co-operating in cybersecurity especially in view of the growing financial sector relations between the two countries.

In this regard, the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC), one of the world’s leading and fastest growing onshore business and financial centers, hosted a high-level delegation of cybersecurity companies from the UK as part of an official visit organised by the Department for International Trade (DIT) at the British Embassy Doha.

The visit provided a valuable opportunity to discuss the rising importance of cybersecurity within financial services, Qatar’s growing financial sector, along with the lucrative business opportunities available in the market.

It also offered an important platform to promote expertise and knowledge sharing, along with the many unique benefits offered by the QFC platform to facilitate business growth.

"Qatar has made significant strides over the years to protect its cyber infrastructure and was one of the first two countries in the region to have cybercriminal and cybersecurity legislation in place," QFC chief executive Yousuf Mohamed al-Jaida said.

Highlighting that the average cost of cybercrime for financial services companies globally has increased by over 40% over the past three years, he said this is "significantly" greater than in other industries, so there are clearly many opportunities for collaboration and investment in this space.

Ajay Sharma, British ambassador to Qatar, said the UK government is committed to making the UK one of the most secure places to do business in the world and has committed £1.9bn of transformational investment to the UK’s National Cyber Security Strategy to accomplish this.

"The DIT recently signed a memorandum of understanding with the Qatar Central Bank on cybersecurity for the financial services sector. This is an important part of UK-Qatar co-operation to tackle the shared challenges that cyberattacks pose to our prosperity and security," he said.

Qatar and the UK have enjoyed a long history of strong bilateral and trade relations, and the QFC has more than 60 UK firms registered on its platform.

"We look forward to continuing to further strengthen our business relations with UK firms wishing to establish their businesses in Qatar and grow beyond," al-Jaida said.

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