Reuters Dubai – Gas exporter Qatar and Vietnam have set up a $1 billion fund (56 million pounds) to invest in sectors including agriculture, a Qatar-based newspaper reported on Tuesday.
Qatari sovereign wealth fund, the Qatar Investment Authority QIA.L, will provide 90 percent of the fund’s equity, Gulf Times reported, citing Phung The Long, Vietnam’s Ambassador to Doha.
"We have exchange ideas about setting up an animal farm for breeding cattle and lambs," The Long said. "We like to have cooperation in this field. Qatar can provide the finance to grow food grains in our land and these can be exported to Qatar."
Gulf government funds, with windfall income from energy exports, have set up several joint funds, some designed to improve access to food supplies.
The desert states in the world’s top oil-exporting region rely on imports of food — a factor that has stoked inflation to multi-decade highs this year as global commodity prices soared.
