'Qatar making good progress with green initiatives, food security'

 Qatar’s efforts to protect the environment and attain food security continue to make headway as the government focuses more on sustainable solutions to address challenges, LuLu Group International director Dr Mohamed Althaf has said.

Speaking to *Gulf Times, he lauded Qatar for its initiatives – charted in the country’s climate change strategies and action plan – that are centred on achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).While Qatar is a small country and “already on the worst side of the weather”, Dr Althaf stressed that “Qatar is making good progress in that regard now, and that is why private companies like us are participating in many of those initiatives”.“We are targeting to reduce our carbon footprint by 50% by 2030 and go carbon neutral by 2050,” he stated. “And I think, with what we are doing and the progress that we are seeing, we are making very good progress and I hope we will achieve those numbers even before the deadlines.”Dr Althaf was sharing his view about Qatar’s key role in the fight against climate change and other environmental challenges, as well as the country’s policies towards self-sufficiency on food, at the 9th Qatar International Agricultural Exhibition (AgriteQ) and 3rd Qatar International Environmental Exhibition (EnviroteQ).LuLu participated in the five-day event at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Centre, which concluded yesterday (March 14).It brought together more than 650 local and international entities from the agriculture, environment, food and animal production industries.Organisers noted that AgriteQ and EnviroteQ provided “opportunities for industry specialists to explore a wide range of agricultural technologies, equipment, and related products, meet key decision-makers, gain valuable insights, and discover the best practices”.From a food security perspective, Dr Althaf said that Qatar, despite experiencing numeorus disruptions, has become “very wise in terms of devising its policies, and what Qatar has achieved is that there is a very good co-operation and blending of synergies between public and private sector players”.He said that the Qatar government has partnered and supported people and institutions, providing broad guidelines and creating infrastructure to achieve its food security goals.According to Dr Althaf, Qatar has been attracting foreign direct investments due to its sound food security strategy and diversification efforts.“I think a lot of initiatives are taken, and Qatar stands far more confident, stronger in terms of the food security component,” he said.