In Doha, a national day reception is a working evening. Ambassadors, ministries, companies and the wider diplomatic corps meet in one room, and conversations that would take weeks to schedule happen within an hour.
Kazakhstan's national day reception at the InterContinental Doha opened with our national anthem. Friends from the region cooked: a Turkmen chef and a Tajik restaurateur made plov for the guests. I also joined the national day receptions of brotherly countries, including Azerbaijan.
These evenings are where embassies exchange views, experience and their reading of trade and investment trends, and where bilateral and multilateral relationships grow stronger. Qatar treats the diplomatic corps with particular respect, and it shows in how these occasions are hosted.
