ع
Qatar achieved first place in general infrastructure within the Global Innovation Index 2025 published by the World Intellectual Property Organization while entering the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook top 10 for the first time, data from the two benchmark studies show. The country also ranked fourth in the International Telecommunication Union’s ICT Development Index, sixth in InterNations’ Expat Essentials survey, seventh in the INSEAD talent attraction index and ninth on Numbeo’s quality-of-life measure. These gains reflect the impact of the National Development Strategy 3, which the National Planning Council launched in early 2024 to diversify the economy, modernise regulation and expand high-quality infrastructure across energy, transport and digital sectors.
The IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook 2026 placed Qatar second globally on its labour-market index, a leap that the National Planning Council attributed to sustained labour reforms, digital transformation and improvements in government services. fDi Intelligence, a Financial Times subsidiary, lifted the country 21 places to 12th in its greenfield foreign-direct-investment ranking for the same period. According to the council, the advances stem directly from streamlined business processes, standardised costs and new incentive packages introduced under the NDS3 framework that have made the emirate more attractive to international investors.
Qatar’s third National Development Strategy aims for 4 percent compound annual growth in non-hydrocarbon GDP and a 2 percent annual rise in labour productivity through 2030, a Trade.gov sector review noted. The plan explicitly links infrastructure upgrades to innovation targets, including a goal of generating $11 billion in additional non-hydrocarbon output and 26,000 ICT-sector jobs by the end of the decade. A senior official at the National Planning Council stated that recent infrastructure investments have strengthened both hard assets and the regulatory environment that supports private-sector expansion.
Invest Qatar launched a $1 billion incentive programme at the Qatar Economic Forum in 2025 to accelerate foreign-direct-investment inflows, the agency said in its annual review. Companies can now register in two days using only a passport, while Qatar Financial Centre fees have been cut by 90 percent and penalties under the General Tax Authority waived for qualifying investors. New visa categories for entrepreneurs, investors and specialised talent, together with the digital “Qooqul” platform, have further reduced administrative friction, the Invest Qatar statement added.
The agency has opened representative offices in London, New York, Paris, Mumbai and Istanbul and participated in the World Economic Forum with a dedicated pavilion while joining the FDI Leaders Network. Invest Qatar hosted 1,450 investment meetings and organised 150 international trips during the review period, according to its published activity report. It has also signed cooperation agreements with imec, WHOOP, Invest India, ProColombia, Hong Kong Trade Development Council, Startup Portugal and PAITA to channel technology and startup flows into the local market.
Domestic initiatives such as the “Scale Now” programme, developed in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Qatar Development Bank and Qatar Research, Development and Innovation Council, have supported local companies seeking regional expansion. These combined efforts enabled Invest Qatar to facilitate 373 foreign-direct-investment projects with total capital expenditure of $3.4 billion that are expected to create 15,051 new jobs, the agency’s year-end tally shows. The National Planning Council indicated that continued execution of NDS3 priorities will remain central to sustaining these momentum gains in future global assessments.
