General Information about Qatar:

Location:
Qatar is a peninsula situated halfway along the West Coast of the Arabian Gulf. It has a number of islands, the most important of which are Halool, Shira'aw, Al-Ashat and others. Its topography consists of a rocky flat surface with some limestone outcrops in Dukhan area in the west and Fuwairit area in the north. The surface is full with characteristic depressions called Rawdat, particularly in the north and central plants.

Land Area:
The total land area of Qatar is approximately 11,521 square kilometers.

Population:
The population of Qatar amount to 743000 inhabitants (according to the initial results of the second stage of the 2004 population census) compared to 522000 inhabitants in the last census conducted in 1997. 83% of inhabitants reside in Doha and its main suburb Al-Rayyan.

Capital City:
Doha

Official Language:
Arabic is the official language in Qatar, and English is widely spoken.

Religion:
Islam is the official religion of the country, and the Shariah (Islamic Law) is the principal source of legislation in the country.

Climate:
Qatar has a moderate desert climate with long hot summers and short mild winters and little rain in winter.

Major Towns:
Doha, Al Wakrah, Al Khor, Dukhan, Al Shamal, Mesaieed, Ras Lafan and others.

Currency:
The official currency is the Qatari Riyal (QR), which is divided into 100 dirhams. The Exchange parity has been set at the fixed rate of US $ = 3.65QR's.

Independence:
Qatar gained independence on September 3rd 1971.

27 June 1995:
On the 27Th of June 1995 His Highness Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani assumed the rule of the State of Qatar supported by the ruling family and the Qatari people.

Work Hours:
Government offices: 7 am to 2 pm.
Private establishments: 8 am to 12 noon, and 4 pm to 8 pm.
Friday and Saturday are the weekend holidays.

LocalTime:
3 hours + Greenwich Mean Time.

An overview of Qatar Economy:

The State continues to implement its policies aiming to diversify the sources of income; upgrade the infrastructure of the national economy; optimize the utilization of the country's hydrocarbon resources based on petroleum, gas and petrochemicals; develop and promote the gigantic gas projects; liberalize the economy; enhance the role of the private sector and issue the required legislation in order to attract foreign investments and facilitate and simplify investment procedures. The State also continued to intensify its efforts to rationalize public spending and increase non-petroleum revenues. As a result, the national economy has achieved in recent years a significant positive growth trend, which was manifested in decreased budget deficit, improved surplus of balance of payments current account and stable inflation and interest rates.

The Qatari economy underwent major developments that were positively reflected on the general economic performance. Foremost among these developments are the upsurge in oil prices that gained Qatar high revenues, the sizable increase in gas production and exports and the completion of the giant gas projects of the country.

Summary of Major Accomplishments DSM Encountered During the Period(s) 2004 & 2003

The Doha Securities Market (DSM) witnessed significant accomplishments and improvements during the periods 2004 and 2003 in terms of value trading as well as volume trading.  Currently, the exchange is concentrating its best efforts on enhancing public awareness and on expanding its service levels in order to ensure fairness, efficiency, liquidity, transparency (FELT) and investor confidence in the exchange.

In terms of trading activities, the Doha Securities Market revealed a new record of achievements for the period ending 2003 when compared to 2002.  In 2003, the trading value were significantly increased to achieve another milestone of success to record at QR 11.7 billion or by 264.6% in comparison to QR 3.2 billion in 2002.  As a result, the number of shares traded stood higher at 138.6% or by 190.0 million shares against 79.6 million shares.  Trended in the same direction, was the number of transactions whereby 134,696 transactions were recordered to equate an increase of approximately 352.2% versus 29,787 transactions in 2002.  Additionally, the market capitalization outperformed its prior record high.  In 2003, the market capitalization increased by 152.7% to report QR 97.2 billion while during the first quarter of 2004 it exceeded the QR 130 billion range.

In addition to the major accomplishments DSM encountered during the period 2003 was its market index.  In 2003, the market index stood at 1622.86 points-an increase by 69.84% to close at 3964.70 points against the 2323.84 points reported in the previous year (2002.)

During the periods between 2003 and the end of August 2004, six newly traded companies were added to the family of DSM’s listed companies.  The six newly listed companies are:

1. Qatar Technical Inspection;
2. United Development;
3. Industrial Qatar;
4. National Leasing;
5. Qatar Meat and Livestock (Mawashee) and
6. Gulf Insurance.

In November 2nd, 2003, and as a way to improve efficiency and space allocation, the Doha Securities Market (DSM) moved to a new state-of-the-art facility to provide a better environment to the investing public and to enhance the overall operations.  The new building features sophisticated computer systems and equipped with up-to-date technological equipments.  Now, the nine (9) brokerage firms can enjoy a specious space to absorb additional business volumes and to ensure all transactions are recorded smoothly and in a timely manner.  .

During the periods between 2003 and 2004, the Doha Securities Market signed several service agreements to better facilitate trading mechanisms so that the public investors can view live stock prices at anytime anywhere.  Among other services were the continuous development of DSM own web site.  These improvements deemed necessary for DSM to stay current and to offer the best business practices in today’s competitive market place.

A long with the continuous improvement process DSM currently focusing on is the disclosure requirements and the compliance procedures for all of its business activities. In order to ensure fairness, effectiveness, efficiency, liquidity and transparency, DSM identifies and disseminates a broad spectrum of periodical reports (annual and semi-annual), work shops, seminars as well as various experts’ interviews for the purpose of educating the investing public.