The 4th edition of the Government Procurement and Contracting Conference and Exhibition (Moushtarayat 2019) organized by
Qatar Development Bank (QDB) took place from 31/3/2019 to 2/4/2019 at the Doha Exhibition and Convention Center (DECC).

Building on the momentum of its preceding editions, Moushtarayat 2019 ushered in a wave of new opportunities for the government-private sector cooperation. The expo welcomed members of the private sector, particularly small and medium enterprises (SME), that attended and participated in a wide range of public tenders, publicly announced throughout the year.

A key aspect of the conference was to educate the local SMEs about the procedures involved in existing public tenders extended by big buyers, such as larger private sector companies, semi-governmental and governmental bodies.

I was happy to take part in a panel discussion on SME friendly public procurement procedure.

I emphasized on the importance of public and private procurement from SMEs for being the engine of the economies and their role in innovation, creating job opportunities and their socially responsible nature in many cases. I also tackled the importance of being socially responsible across the different activities of the supply chain, upstream and downstream. My talk also tackled the history and growth of the United Nations Global Compact, the SDGs and 2030 agenda.