In private, in person, and among people who are known to one another.
- DohaSeveral times a year. The Circle’s home, where its members are convened and where the majlis is held.
- MonacoOnce a year, outside the Gulf, when the Circle’s members and its international partners are gathered in one place.
- In the corridorsIn the countries where the Circle’s work is under way, alongside a presidential visit or an event of consequence.
- Delegations and forumsThe Circle is received within presidential delegations and at the forums where the decisions of its markets are taken, and its members with it.
The Circle meets in the spirit of the majlis.
These gatherings are private and reserved for members and their guests. Heads of state, ministers, institutional leaders and business principals may be received within them, allowing conversations to take place directly, personally and with discretion.
Family, institutional and government information is separated and protected. What happens within the Circle remains within it.
An institution older than the State.
Majlis is Arabic for the place where one sits. For centuries it has been the room in which the peoples of the Gulf have received guests, heard petitions, settled disputes and reached agreement — open to whoever enters, presided over by the host, and governed by the obligations of hospitality. In 2015 UNESCO inscribed the majlis on its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Every Qatari house of standing keeps a majlis, and much of the country’s public and commercial life is still conducted there. It is where families meet, where a word is given, and where that word is expected to hold. Trust in Qatar is built in person, over time and in the same room. The majlis is the institution that makes that possible.
The Circle works in this manner because its work depends on trust. Ministers, institutional leaders and business principals encounter the same people over time, in person and across markets. Relationships deepen through repeated contact; decisions are made face to face; and access is earned through continuity rather than transaction.
Selective by design. Personal by principle.