The 2nd Government Procurement & Contracting Conference and Exhibition ( Moushtarayat 2017) recorded a big turnout of entrepreneurs, participants from small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), members of the larger business community and media personnel at its pavilions, which were largely hosted by government and semi-government organizations. The expo, organized by Qatar Development Bank (QDB), was held in partnership with the Ministry of Finance.
This year’s conference and exhibition provided SMEs with an opportunity to learn about existing public tenders extended by big buyers, such as larger private sector companies, semi-governmental and governmental bodies. Moushtarayat 2017 also educated attendees on the procedures involved in partaking in future tender and application processes successfully, so that members of the private sector may become more active contributors to the diversification of the economy.
Moushtarayat 2017 was attended by 2212 visitors, and 30 exhibitors participated in the accompanying exhibition. During the course of the three-day expo, 2022 job opportunities for SMEs were created with an estimated cumulative value worth up to QAR 2.5 billion.
Chief Executive Officer (CEO), QDB, Abdulaziz bin Nasser Al-Khalifa said: "The active participation of entrepreneurs and SMEs at Moushtarayat 2017 underscored the success of the event and demonstrated how deeply they valued new public sector opportunities. We, at QDB, are grateful to Ministry of Finance with whom we have a strong work dynamic, and with whose cooperation, we were able to organize the 2nd Government Procurement & Contracting Conference and Exhibition. We are certain that this expo will help the partnership between the private and public sectors reach new heights." 
The second edition of the expo also saw the National Procurement Awards, during the opening ceremony, where names of the five winning Qatari organizations were announced in recognition of their commitment to facilitating the entry of new participants into the Qatari marketplace. The winning companies included: Ministry of Culture and Sports, Qatar General Electricity and Water Corporation (KAHRAMAA), Qatar Airways, Qatar Gas Transport Company (Nakilat), and Qatar Shell. Qualifying criteria for the award included: the number of contracts awarded to local SMEs, the lengths of the contract periods with SMEs and their total amount value as well as submission of periodic reports to QDB.
Notably, this year’s Moushtarayat conference and exhibition was the latest in a series of integrated programs and initiatives offered by QDB to develop SMEs. To promote the private sector, QDB locally extends wide-ranging financial and non-financial support to entrepreneurs across a myriad of industries so that SMEs may achieve higher scales of competitiveness in Qatar.

Source: QNA