Qatar becomes the first Middle Eastern country to receive Chinese giant pandas — Suhail and Soraya — who, in true Gulf fashion, took up residence in luxury air-conditioned quarters.
Crowds of children and reporters watch as the four-year-old male and three-year-old female take their first steps in a temporary enclosure in a ceremony at the Al Khor park about 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Doha.
The Chinese government sent the animals as gift to mark the World Cup that starts November 20. China has not qualified for the event, but is a major customer for Qatar’s natural gas.
Suhail is the name of one of the brightest stars visible in the Gulf region, while Soraya is the Arabic name for the Pleiades star cluster.
Qatar is the 20th country to be given pandas outside China and Taiwan, which China’s Communist Party has never controlled but claims as its own.
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