Tinubu insists on visit as Qatar turns down President’s request

Qatar has rejected a enterprise and funding discussion board journey of President Bola Tinubu to the Arab nation.
The Embassy of the State of Qatar in Abuja said this in a letter dated February 22 2024 and addressed to the Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Nigeria.
The visit of the President to Qatar was scheduled for March 2 and 3, 2024.
But within the letter, which was acquired by the ministry on February 23 2024 and sighted by our correspondent on Saturday, the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Qatar apologised for the rejection of the proposed enterprise visit.
“The Embassy of the State of Qatar in Abuja presents its compliments to the Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
“Regarding the upcoming state visit of H. E. Bola Ahmed Tinubu, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to Qatar from March 2 and 3, 2024 and with regards to your word: Ref: ME.631 2024 dated 12/02/2024, which proposed the holding of a enterprise and funding discussion board on the margins of Mr President’s visit to Qatar on March 2, 2024.
“The Embassy has the honour to inform that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry in Qatar apologises that it will not be able to hold a business and investment forum as proposed by the Nigerian side,” a part of the letter learn.
The embassy defined that “there is no such thing as a settlement signed between the State of Qatar and the Federal Republic of Nigeria on funding promotion and safety.
“His Excellency, the Minister of Commerce and Industry, can be finishing up official missions exterior the nation throughout the upcoming visit interval.
“The State of Qatar will be hosting a web summit during the suggested period and the state’s authorities will be preoccupied with this event.”
However, the Presidency mentioned the Qatari authorities didn’t snub Tinubu.
It defined that the botched funding discussion board between the Nigerian and Qatari enterprise communities was solely one among a number of occasions lined up forward of the President’s state visit to the Gulf nation.
“It is not correct for anyone to insinuate that the Qatari authorities have snubbed the Nigerian leader over a business and investment forum which is tangential to the all-important state visit and which President Tinubu is slated to attend as a guest,” a press release signed by Tinubu’s Special Adviser on Information and Strategy, Bayo Onanuga, on Saturday learn.
Onanuga, in a press release titled, ‘President Bola Tinubu’s state visit to Qatar,’ in response to a leaked word between the overseas ministries of each nations defined that Tinubu was anticipated to proceed to Qatar on the state visit as scheduled and throughout the visit, the Nigerian chief would interact in high-level bilateral discussions with Qatari chief on many vital issues, protecting the total vary of diplomatic and financial points.
The Presidency mentioned, “We are conscious of a leaked diplomatic correspondence between the Embassy of the State of Qatar in Abuja and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs concerning President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s state visit to Qatar between March 2 and 3, 2024.
“The leaked diplomatic paper by mischief makers about an investment forum is not in any way a snub of President Tinubu by the Qatari government.”