Not a mirage: The view of Doha, Qatar. The Middle-Eastern oil-rich nation celebrates it's National Day on the18th of December.

Ambassador Abdalla Al-Hamar writes on the National Day of the State of Qatar, celebrated on the 18th of December.

Qatar is famous for its impressive economic growth recently. About 85 per cent of Qatar's income comes from oil exports. The country boasts the world's third largest reserves of oil and natural gas.

Oil and gas have made Qatar the country with the world's highest per-capita income of approximately US$98,000 (World Bank Data 2014).

Being aware that the blessing of oil and gas won't last forever, Qatar wants to be left with a viable and advanced economy.

Focusing on something sustainable is more important for Qatar and nothing is better than a knowledge-based economy. Qatar doesn't hesitate to spend oil income on education. The establishment of the Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development in 1995 directed by Sheikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, the Father Emir (current Emir is His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani), and his second wife Mozah bint Nasser Al Missned was the first move in investing oil and gas income into education.

Excellence: Graduation Ceremony at Georgetown university school of foreign service in Qatar. — Photos courtesy of the Embassy

The Qatar Foundation is a private, non-profit organisation that serves the people of Qatar by supporting and operating programmes in three core mission areas: education, science and research, and community development.

The foundation strives to nurture the future leaders of Qatar.

In all of its activities, the Foundation promotes a culture of excellence in Qatar and furthers its role in supporting an innovative and open society.

Qatar has also invited other elite educational institutions to Doha with the goal of creating a high level of educational opportunities for Qataris and others in the region such as Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (Business Administration and Computer Science), College of the North Atlantic – Qatar (Technical training in Information Technology, Business Studies, Health Science, Engineering, and Security) and Georgetown University School (School of Foreign Services in Qatar). The nine international universities, predominantly from the US, set up state of the art bases in Qatar's Education City campus.

Qatar set up its own "Nobel" prize for promoting innovation and building the future of education through collaboration with the World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), worth $500,000 per prize. WISE was established by the Qatar Foundation in 2009 under the patronage of its chairperson, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser.

Since 2009, WISE has evolved into a thriving global, multi-sectoral community, which continues to generate fruitful dialogue and productive partnerships.

The WISE community is a network of education stockholders from about 200 countries who collaborate to seek solutions to challenges in education.

Alongside WISE, the Qatar Foundation has extended its support to Asia through a non-government organisation called Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) which was conceived by The Emir of the State of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.

ROTA's mission is to provide Asian countries high quality education, which helps young generations discover their full potential.

Viet Nam, one of the short-listed countries in Asia, has been receiving this funding from Qatar for years through an annual full scholarship program offered to two excellent students from the University of Language and International Studies to study in Doha.

The vision of the Qatari leaders has created a stable Qatar. Throughout the global crisis and oil and gas price slumps, Qatar has stayed powerful in the Gulf region partly thanks to the knowledge-based and diversified economy. — VNS