an ambitious plan

In early 2000, the Government of Qatar declared its plans to Qatarize 50 per cent of the country’s thriving oil, gas and petrochemical industries by 2005.

The aim of the Qatarization programme is to increase the proportion of Qatari nationals in sectors of the economy that have previously relied heavily on expatriate employees. As a clearly structured system of recruitment, training, coaching and career development, Qatarization is a vital component of the state’s strategic development plan, enabling Qatari men and women to hold key positions to support the state’s business requirements.

RasGas is fully committed to the initiative and has developed its own Qatarization programme branded Taqteer to recruit and retain quality Qataris and to meet the targets set by the Qatar Petroleum (QP) Strategic Qatarization plan.

The RasGas Taqteer programme continues to evolve to meet the growing needs of the company and its national workforce. In recent years the focus has progressed simply from recruiting Qatari nationals to developing them as professionals, capable of performing their duties in organisations anywhere in the world.

In 2006, RasGas implemented several key initiatives to support this ‘Quality Qatarization’ approach. A key focus was establishing the National Development Team to monitor the company’s performance in meeting its Qatarization targets and develop specific initiatives to achieve Quality Qatarization.

A second, long-term initiative to attract a national workforce was the establishment of the University Advisory Committee (UAC) in 2005. Through the UAC, RasGas, Higher Education providers and research institutions work together in providing career opportunities for Qatari students actively participating in recruitment fairs and developing summer internship programmes.

A third initiative, the Graduate Development Programme, is an effective tool in developing junior national employees to undertake key positions across the organisation. The RasGas National Technical Club, established in May 2005, is another initiative to enhance the development of Qatari’s in the company.

RasGas has also established a Learning Attachment programme with each of its major projects, to give employees exposure to international operations. In 2006 there were three projects under way in Houston and Tokyo, with up to 30 young Qatari’s taking part. Other national development initiatives are implemented and evaluated by the Qatarization Development Committee, chaired by the Managing Director, including:

• Competency manuals/technical ladders for Qatari nationals in each discipline
• ExxonMobil exchange programme
• RasGas Vocational Training Centre (shared by Qatargas, Ras Laffan Industrial City and QP).
• Scholarship programme
• Educational sponsorship for employees
• English language skills
• Mentoring