Qatar to Get More Involved in Volkswagen

The partnership between the Emirate of Qatar and the Volkswagen Group, born out of necessity last year, is about to expand to aspects other than the financial ones agreed so far. According to the German carmaker, Qatar will also get involved in research, development and education.

The first embodiment of this increased involvement will be the vocational training and further study courses at Qatar University and the AutoUni in Wolfsburg.

"The development of modern and resource-efficient vehicles increasingly calls for interdisciplinary cooperation in such diverse fields as electronics and materials science," Martin Winterkorn said in a release.

"Our plans to establish a test laboratory will put us in a position to test new materials under very challenging climatic conditions, thereby extending our leading position in research and development."

Qatar became involved with Volkswagen last year, after purchasing Porsche's shares in the group. As a result, the Emirate got a 10 percent voting stake in Porsche plus most of the German sports car maker's cash-settled options for a stake in VW, in exchange for 7 billion euros. Porsche announced at the time it is selling assets worth billions of euros to Qatar as a way to come back on track.

Last September, news surfaced the Emirate will get, through the state owned Qatar Holding, one seat on the supervisory board of the German carmaker. Qatar plans to become the third-largest voting stake in VW, after the owning families and the State of Lower Saxony.