Country profile: Qatar

The State of Qatar is an Arab emirate in southwest Asia. It's bordered by the Persian Gulf and Saudi Arabia.

Over 900,000 people live in the country, which has an area of more than 11-thousand square kilometers.

Nearly all Qataris are Muslims. Besides ethnic Arabs, much of the population migrated from various nations to work in the country's oil industry. Arabic serves as the official language. But English is also spoken, as well as many other languages.

The State of Qatar declared independence on September 3rd, 1971.

The country is a member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries or OPEC, with a daily oil production of 800,000 barrels.

Qatar's natural gas reserves are even more abundant. They're estimated at 25 trillion cubic meters, ranking the third largest in the world.

Qatar’s national income primarily derives from oil and natural gas exports. Oil and gas account for more than 60 percent of GDP, roughly 85 percent of export earnings, and 70 percent of government revenues.

China and Qatar established diplomatic relations on July 9th, 1988.

In 2006, bilateral trade volume reached nearly a billion US dollars, a year-on-year increase of nearly 50 percent.