ECONOMY
Business etiquette
You should have a lot of patience and perseverance in negotiations.
Opening hours
Business hours: Sa-Thu 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Authorities: Sat-Wed 7 a.m.-2 p.m., some authorities are also open on Thursday mornings.
Economy
Trade department of the Embassy of Qatar
Hagenstrasse 56, D-14193 Berlin
Tel: (030) 86 20 60.
Internet: www.embassy-qatar.de
Austrian-Arab Chamber of Commerce
Lobkowitzplatz 1, A-1015 Vienna
Tel: (01) 513 39 65.
Internet: www.aacc.at
Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Chamber of Industry and Commerce)
PO Box 402, Doha
Tel: 42 51 31.
Internet: http://www.qcci.org/
Business contacts
Trade department of the Embassy of Qatar
Hagenstrasse 56, D-14193 Berlin
Tel: (030) 86 20 60.
Internet: www.embassy-qatar.de
Austrian-Arab Chamber of Commerce
Lobkowitzplatz 1, A-1015 Vienna
Tel: (01) 513 39 65.
Internet: www.aacc.at
Qatar Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Chamber of Industry and Commerce)
PO Box 402, Doha
Tel: 42 51 31.
Internet: http://www.qcci.org/
COMMUNICATION
Cellphone
GSM 900/1800. Network operators include Ooredoo (Internet: www.ooredoo.qa) and Vodafone (Internet: www.vodafone.qa). Roaming contracts exist with Germany, Austria and Switzerland, among others. The network coverage is excellent. A local prepaid SIM card is advisable to avoid high costs. You can buy them at the airport or at newspaper stands. Network operators also offer mobile devices.
Internet
Internet provider is among others Ooredoo (Internet: www.ooredoo.qa). There are internet cafes in Doha. WiFi hotspots are spread across the country and are easily accessible from hotels and public parks.
Post Office
Airmail to Europe takes up to a week on its way. Postage stamps are almost exclusively available in post offices, it is advisable to hand in the post there as well, as letter boxes are not widely used.
Post office hours
Sun-Thu 7 a.m.-8 p.m., Sat 8 a.m.-11 a.m. and 5 p.m.-8 p.m. (main post office).
Radio
Since the use of shortwave frequencies changes several times over the course of a year, it is advisable to contact Deutsche Welle customer service directly (Tel: (+49) (0228) 429 32 08. Internet: www.dw-world.de) to request.
Phone
According to youremailverifier, the country code is 00974. There are no area codes in Qatar and local calls are usually free. Public telephones are used with calling cards. Long distance calls are cheaper in the evening and at night than during the day.
NIGHTLIFE
Introduction
Outside of the capital there is little nightlife, apart from strong espresso and shishas. More and more bars and nightclubs are opening in Doha thanks to the growing expat population and increasing westernization. The hippest place in town is currently the Crystal Lounge in the W Hotel (Internet: www.whoteldoha.com), while first-class jazz is played live in the Lincoln Center (Internet: www.jalcdoha.com) in the St. Regis Hotel.
There are many cinemas showing English language films and the Doha Players play plays in English. The National Theater is also at home in Doha. In the new Katara Cultural Village (Internet: www.katara.net) orchestra and opera concerts take place and sometimes even stand-up comedy events. There are a small – but growing – number of venues that play rock and pop music live; most of them are in the international hotels.
Even if Doha is a very safe city, one should note that in a society as traditional as Qatar there is a certain fascination with women who dress how they want and go where they want. There tend to be a lot more men than women in clubs and there is a lot of staring at times. Qatar women are not allowed to enter bars that sell alcohol. While Western women drink alcohol isn’t a problem, getting completely drunk is probably not the best idea.
LANGUAGE
Overview
The official language is Arabic. English and Persian are important business and communication languages. Guest workers speak their respective native languages, especially Urdu (Pakistani national language, which is also spoken in some states in India), Hindi (Indian official language) and other Indo-Aryan languages are common. French or German is sometimes spoken in hotels.
Around 320 million people around the world speak Arabic as their mother tongue and another 60 million people speak it as a second language. Because of its importance as a sacred language in the Islamic faith, Arabic has become a world language. Alongside Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish, it is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. In addition to Qatar, Arabic is also the official language in Egypt, Algeria, Bahrain, Eritrea, Israel, Iraq, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, Tunisia and the United Arab Emirates, although the local dialects are sometimes very different from one another. The Cairo dialect is generally understood due to the large Egyptian film production. Standard Arabic is rarely used as an oral communication tool,
The written language for all dialects is written standard Arabic. It is written from right to left. In the Arabic alphabet there are only consonants and long vowels. Arabic is one of the current scripts, which means that the individual letters of a word are connected with one another.