Qantara Capital

#Kazakhstan is currently hosting the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit with #China #Russia #India #Pakistan #SaudiArabia #Iran #Turkey #Qatar among its participants The coverage (or lack of) of this SCO summit by Western media is highly frustrating. The pre-summit headlines are already dismissive, branding this as an "anti-American" league with a hostile agenda. If anything, this SCO summit will promote healthy discussions and progress in solving the ongoing regional conflicts. Here are 7 reasons why 1. The world is multi-polar and Western hegemony is no more. No state has a monopoly on diplomatic initiaves and peace making 2. The participants (observers included) represent close to half of the World population and a significant portion of world commodities 3. Not all participants are friends. Yet they meet and explore ways to improve relationships 4. The participants have a common interest in "cooling things" down in order to focus their efforts on developing their economies and trade relationships 5. The increasing sophistication and cohesion of the SCO participants come at a time when the #USA, the European Parliament and the #UK are divided at their core, ideologically, socially and economically 6. There is little value for SCO members to engage with failing partners for the time being as potential commitments couldn't be guaranteed 7. #Kazakhstan is a timely host as President #Tokaev is a skilled diplomat whose interests also lie in keeping peaceful neighbors Therefore the odds of the SCO summit contributing to pacify the global context are real. The odds of the participants growing their trade relationships at the expense of the West are also real. But that one's fair play, isn't it!?

There can be no sustainable economic growth without infrastructure. Case in point: Shell pulled out of a strategic green #hydrogen project in Sinès, #Portugal. There are several reasons behind this decision, not least the lack of #infrastructure. The national political crisis is not mentionned, but the project got cancelled in October 2023 despite pre-approval of EU subsidies... I would be keen to read a "case study/lessons learned" from this failed project. Could the Portuguese stakeholders have done more (or less) to support this international project?

We're pleased to announce that David Claudino has joined us as Managing Director in Portugal. In his new role, David will be responsible for leading Qantara Capital's local operations, with a special focus on developing our "Grândola Logistics Park Euro-Atlantic." (https://lnkd.in/dMKPN_DK) Please join me in welcoming David!