Qatar has made cultural and educational development one of its priorities for the years to come. The Qatar Foundation, the board of directors of which is headed by the Emir’s wife, Sheikha Mozah, and possessing considerable resources, is at the heart of a very ambitious development policy. In this respect, the Qatari government has turned to France to help it carry out various large-scale cultural and heritage-related projects. The main project, the Islamic Art Museum, was ianugurated in November 2008.

The French-Qatari LycéeVoltaire, managed by the French lay mission, opened its doors in September 2007 and was officially inaugurated by the French President and the Crown Prince on 15 January 2008. The University of Qatar opened for the academic year in February 2008, in cooperation with the French cultural departments, teaching French in the “International Affairs” course of study at the Faculty of Arts.

Several major projects are under discussion

 Project to create a branch of the école spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr (Special Military School of Saint-Cyr) in Qatar. This project was initiated by a request made by the Emir directly to the head of state in May 2006. By choosing Saint-Cyr, Qatar is attempting to adopt a comprehensive French-style educational system intended to provide officers to Qatar’s armed forces as well as upper-level managers to civil society (administrations, companies, etc.).

 The set up of the Institut Pasteur in Doha to start cooperation in the area of research on infectious diseases and public health.

In the area of the law and courts, there is very strong demand for cooperation from Qatar’s government. Underway since March 2005, on the initiative of the Attorney General of Qatar, judicial relations between our two countries have stepped up since 2008 with a view to promoting a concept of training based on France’s legal system that has spread in the region through Egypt. Indeed, despite the influence of Common Law, Qatar has a civil code and a code of civil procedure, a criminal code and a code of criminal procedure.

The appointment of a liaison judge (decree of 5 March 2009) facilitated relations with the players involved in the justice and legal system in Qatar, while allowing for a better understanding of the judicial system in this country, which is divided into three distinct and separate entities: the general prosecution, seated judges and the department of justice; however, all are spurred on by the same desire to benefit from French know-how in the area of continental law.

^{Updated on 16.02.11}

Archaeology

Drawing on the expertise of the Commission consultative des recherches archéologiques à l’étranger (Consultative Commission on Archaeological Research Abroad), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DGCID) is subsidizing nearly 160 archaeological missions (from palaeontology to the medieval period) in 65 countries. Among others:

 Zekrit and Murwab

^{Updated on 10.15.08}