India will train Qatar's police for the FIFA World Cup 2022. This was agreed upon during a meeting between Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Thani and Home Minister Rajnath Singh in Delhi on Saturday. The Prime Minister, who holds the Interior Ministry portfolio, invited Mr Singh to Qatar to strengthen bilateral security cooperation as the country prepares to host the FIFA World Cup 2022.

Officials in Qatar and Spain are reportedly mulling the creation of a $1 billion joint investment fund – and a meeting is being scheduled for next year to progress the plans. Spanish ambassador to Qatar, Ignacio Escobar, told Gulf Times in an interview that a bilateral visit by Spanish officials to the Gulf state is expected to take place in the first quarter of 2017, and that the visit could include the signing of an agreement to establish the fund.

The Third Meeting of the Consultative Group for the Istanbul Co-operation Initiative (ICI) concluded yesterday in Doha after coming up with a number of important proposals and ideas. [...] highlighted the importance of co-ordination on a united strategy for public diplomacy by organising regular meetings on important matters that require united stances and reactions.

Efforts to leverage Qatar’s 2022 World Cup hosting rights to create the soft power the Gulf state needs to punch above its weight and ensure a sympathetic hearing in the international community in times of emergency operate on the Leninist principle of two steps forward, one step backwards.

The 21st century, however, belongs to Football 3.0 (the Asian era). Over the last decade, football has been in the midst of a shift eastwards. Countries including Qatar and states of the United Arab Emirates have built extensive sponsorship portfolios in the West, acquired overseas clubs, and successfully bid to host international tournaments. More recently, China has increased the pace of world football’s ‘Asianisation’.

The soccer soft power contrast between Qatar and Iceland speaks volumes. A comparison of the strategies of both countries demonstrates that it takes more than money to leverage soccer to create political, geopolitical and economic opportunity. Money and world soccer body FIFA’s desire to take one of the world’s foremost sporting events beyond Europe and the Americas helped Qatar win the right to host the 2022 World Cup.

The Thailand embassy in Doha is planning to organise a series of cultural activities and events in the coming months to celebrate the 89th birthday of King Bhumibol Adulyadej on December 5. “The recent ‘Muaythai Roadshow in Qatar’ last month was a huge success in promoting traditional Thai boxing in the country and we plan to organise such [an] event again,” Thai ambassador Soonthorn Chaiyindeepum told Gulf Times.

The Philippine Embassy in Doha marked a milestone in the field of cultural diplomacy with yesterday’s official opening of Sentro Rizal - a learning centre for Philippine arts and culture which is the second to be opened in the MENA region. [...] Hundreds of students from two Philippine schools in Qatar are set to benefit from the newly opened centre.