Review: Qatar Announces more Intensive Business Activities in Macedonia
Published in Reviews
on 22 - 03 - 2015 Author: Љубомир КостовскиHow many times some of Macedonian top politicians need to visit Qatar so Macedonia would get an investment from that country? And how many times do Qatar officials need to come to Skopje to develop the potential economic ties? This is a logical question these days, when there’s a number of news reports from Qatar about the trip of Macedonian president Ivanov to this Gulf state [primarily to attend the 2015 World Men’s Handball Championship]. It is clear that as a big sports lover, he went to root for the Macedonian handball team. It is not clear about the other stated purpose, which gains absolute priority in news reports – the development of mutual economic relations. Considering the great intensity of visits by Macedonian politicians to this country, a report on the subject would require more precise information about the economic ties between Macedonia and the Persian Gulf.
Link to the original article: : Катар најавува поинтензивни бизнис активности во Македонија [Qatar Announces more Intensive Business Activities in Macedonia]
Date and time of publication: 15.01.2015 12:09
Review date: 17.01.2014
Reviewer: Ljubomir Kostovski
“Ivanov conducted a meeting with the Sheikh [Khalifa bin Jassim Al Thani], the Chairman of the Qatar Chamber of Commerce & Industry. At the meeting, they exchanged information about the opportunities and the interest to intensify the economic collaboration. President Ivanov presented the benefits which foreign investors receive in Republic of Macedonia, and the Chairman of the Qatar Chamber of Commerce & Industry promised that he will soon send a team to Republic of Macedonia to explore the opportunities for economic collaboration, and stressed that he expects to welcome the interested Macedonian companies to come to Doha.”
If you attempt to browse a bit older news about such visits and put them in a row, you can easily deduce that all the new reports are basically a “copy-paste” likeness of the older ones. The reader, when Macedonia-Qatar relations are concerned, is put on a kind of carousel which can only make one’s head spin.
- Meetings at the highest level started in 2011, when the Macedonian Government gave the Emir of Qatar a list of 20-odd companies offering him to take over them or to establish partner relations. None of these requests received a response by the Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani in any decent time-span after the two-day visit to Skopje.
- There’s no public information whether, when the Macedonian Prime Minister visited Qatar in March 2012, as reported by Gruevski’s Cabinet, he met the same people and talked about the same issues, and if there were concrete consequences of the above offer.
- In the beginning of 2013 the Government announced that in March 2013 Qatar delegation will visit Macedonia with ambitious plans for cooperation, after the visit of President Ivanot to the Gulf and the talks he held about the same intentions of owners of large unused capital. In the same vain, Macedonian media reported first about President Ivanov, then about the Minister of Economy Saracini, who “sold” to the Qatar businessmen [the state-owned electricity producing company] ELEM, the Popova Shapka ski resort, and a range of other facilities…
Why do we mention all these things? Due to the fact that a news report about economic cooperation must connect the past (which is formally quite intensive when contacts are concerned) and the future, which provides a real meaning to these visits. Such a report must not be reduced to only general notes about the excellent mutual relations. Journalists should also provide proof, talks about concrete topics and suggestions. If these relations are not good, the public needs an answer to the question why Qatar has not accepted any of the numerous Macedonian offers, and what is the reason for that? This way, it turns out that for journalists, these visits to Qatar only provide an opportunity to reuse copies of their old news! And of course, to attend a game involving our national men’s handball team.
This review was created within the framework of the USAID Media Strengthening in Macedonia Project - Media Fact-Checking Service Component,, mplemented by Metamorphosis. The review is made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of its author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Metamorphosis, USAID or the United States Government. For more information on the work of USAID in Macedonia please visit its website (http://macedonia.usaid.gov) and Facebook page (www.facebook.com/USAIDMacedonia).
INFOGRAPHIC
TRUTHFULNESS
has facts
accurate allegations
trustworthy allegations
SOURCES OF INFORMATION
Journalists embedded within the official delegation.
official
relevant
1 source
one-sided
EXTENSIVENESS
non-extensive
concealed information
BIAS
partially presenting the truth
cannot be determined
has false information
The Journalist promotes the visit without explaining the public benefit.
political bias
COMMENTING
comments not included
distinguished from the facts
PLAGIARISM
original work
author is not attributed
TITLE QUALITY
informative
non-creative
not sensationalistic
appropriate
tendentious
PHOTOGRAPH
has a photograph
appropriate
neither manipulating nor informing - serves as an illustration
author (source) is not attributed
HATE SPEECH
no offensive speech
no hate speech
doesn't encourage violence
no discrimination
EDITED FOR THE WEB
medium readability
good multimedia elements
has no contextual links
somewhat orderly
not connected with tags