News

Qatar Is Getting Its First EV Plant, Built To Cope With Gulf Heat

JTA and UK-based WATT plan to design, engineer, and build EVs in Qatar. But can low-to-medium-volume production compete globally?

Published

3 weeks ago

August 17, 2026

Nour Nasir

qatar is getting its first ev plant built to cope with gulf heat

WATT Electric Vehicle Company

JTA International Investment Holding (JTA) and WATT Electric Vehicle Company (WATT) have formed a strategic partnership to establish Qatar’s first EV manufacturing plant. The two companies intend to jointly design, engineer and manufacture a new generation of EVs developed specifically for the Gulf, and the partnership runs the full length of the process — from proprietary platform technology and engineering through product development, production planning and local advanced manufacturing capabilities.

The partnership brings JTA’s investment capability, international partnerships and regional market expertise. Meanwhile, WATT, based in the UK, designs and manufactures low-to-medium-volume EVs, both under its own brand and for third-party clients, with platform technology spanning commercial and passenger vehicles. The Qatar project will use WATT’s patented lightweight aluminum architecture and proprietary EV platform.

Climate is going to be central to the design brief. “Together with WATT, we will develop electric vehicles specifically designed for the Gulf region — vehicles engineered around local operating conditions, the region’s demanding climate and the expectations of customers,” said Dr. Amir Ali Salemi Zadeh, founder and CEO of JTA Investment Holding.

Neil Yates, founder and CEO of WATT, said the platform, “developed and validated in the UK, enables the rapid and commercially efficient development of highly customized EVs while significantly reducing development time and manufacturing costs”. He pointed to “advanced thermal management and battery performance in extreme temperatures” as areas where his engineering teams are positioned to design vehicles for the region.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The stated ambitions also include strengthening regional supply chains, more research and development, localized advanced manufacturing technologies and developing a skilled workforce in Qatar. Salemi Zadeh framed the goal as “a globally competitive EV manufacturing platform that positions Qatar as a regional leader in advanced manufacturing, clean mobility and automotive innovation”.

Although the plans are ambitious, neither of the partners have yet detailed future production capacity, timelines, investment size or which vehicles will roll out first.

News

Visa’s Return To Syria Starts With A Test And A Bank In Lebanon

Foreign visitors will be the first users to benefit, but whether Syria’s own banks and cardholders follow is still an open question.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 27, 2026

Dana Saadeh

visa's return to syria starts with a test and a bank in lebanon

Visa is returning to Syria. Its first live international card transaction in the country was a test rather than a launch, and the milestone event ran through a Lebanese bank.

The acquirer (the bank on the merchant’s side of a card payment) was Fransabank Lebanon, with Paymera as the other named partner. Nadim Moujaes, who heads a Fransabank Group subsidiary, describes the test as both the culmination of “longstanding efforts to link Syria back to international payment networks” and “the first step in a larger path”.

Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa makes the first electronic payment in Syria using a @Visa card at a store in Damascus, following the lifting of US sanctions on Syria. pic.twitter.com/lpAN7nQ6Fc

— Tech Magazine (@TechMGZN) August 27, 2026

“We are excited to have successfully tested live transactions today as we plan to enable international visitors to use their Visa cards while in Syria,” says Leila Serhan, Visa’s senior vice president and group country manager for the North Africa, Levant and Pakistan region. Although a significant first step, that plan doesn’t come with a hard date for when a visitor’s card will work normally.

Mohammed Safwat Raslan, governor of the Central Bank of Syria, says the test paves the way for international card acceptance in Syria and that maintaining strong compliance, risk management and operational controls will remain essential. Serhan likewise stresses that Visa has worked within applicable legal, regulatory and compliance requirements. For a test transaction, it seems there was a great deal of attention paid to the rules, with the entire operation being carefully managed.

Also Read: Lebanon’s 5G Era Begins With 150 Stations And A $1M Budget

The test is the latest step in a sequence that began in December 2025, when Visa announced a strategic roadmap to support Syria’s integration into the global digital economy. In February 2026 it hosted its first industry gathering of banks, ecosystem partners and policymakers in Damascus and, the same month, signed an agreement with Syria’s Ministry of Communications and Information Technology in San Francisco.

Michel Kattouah, Paymera’s CEO, called the test “the return of international card acceptance,” but while that’s positive news, there’s no word yet on when a Syrian bank will issue a Visa card to a Syrian customer.