Agence Publics Qatar (APQ) is an event management and planning company that organizes and hosts various cultural, musical, athletic, and social events in Qatar and internationally. ^{1  2} It organized and hosted the FIFA World Cup Closing Ceremony at Lusail Stadium in Qatar in 2022. ³

A 2025 New York Post exposé revealed connections between APQ and anti-Israel filmmaker Mira Nair, mother of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani (D). The exposé tied Nair to the Qatari royal family and the gas and oil industry, both of which have supported Nair’s films and projects. ⁴

Activities

Agence Publics Qatar has executed and hosted several of Qatar’s largest national and international events. In 2022, APQ organized and hosted the FIFA World Cup Closing Ceremony at Lusail Stadium in Qatar. ^{3  5} Also in 2022, APQ planned and hosted the 4th Street Child World Cup, an international youth soccer tournament. ⁶

In 2023, APQ helped plan “The Last Pandemic,” a global conference hosted and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (now the Gates Foundation) that centered around Gates’ book about COVID-19, How to Prevent the Next Pandemic. ⁷ Again in 2023, APQ helped plan and host the Doha Film Institute’s Intaj Exhibition film and art show. ⁸

In 2018, APQ planned and hosted the Qatar Fanzone watch party event at the Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiyah Arena in Qatar, where Qatari spectators watched a televised broadcast of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. ⁹

Connection to Mira Nair

In August 2025, the New York Post published an exposé revealing the connections between the government of Qatar, several private companies, and Mira Nair, mother of New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani (D). Nair is a longtime filmmaker, and several of her films have been criticized as anti-Israel. Sheikha Al-Mayassa bint Hamad Al-Thani, the sister to Qatar’s ruling emir, and the state-funded cultural institutions she allegedly controls have supported Nair and her films since at least 2009, even underwriting a film training course for Qatari students in screenwriting and filmmaking at Nair’s Maisha Film Labs in East Africa and in Doha. Al-Thani also extended Nair a personal invitation to participate in the cultural program the country organized as part of the festivities around hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup. ⁴

The exposé revealed that Agence Publics Qatar (APQ) did $102,000 in business in 2022 and 2023 with a company Nair founded in her native India. It also revealed that APQ shares its chairman with the Qatar Engineering and Construction Company, a central company in Qatar’s oil and gas industry. This created controversy surrounding Nair’s connections to both the Qatari oil and gas industry and Qatari government elites, which the Post exposé accused of supporting Hamas. ⁴

Leadership

Mohammad Al-Saad is the executive chairman of the board of directors at Agence Publics Qatar (APQ), a position he has held since 2018. He is also the chairman of the Qatar Engineering and Construction Company, a major oil and gas company in Qatar. Al-Saad received a bachelor’s degree in architectural engineering from the University of Colorado Boulder in 1998 and his MBA from HEC Paris Business School in 2016. ¹⁰

Ali Alawieh is the general manager at Agence Publics Qatar. He previously worked as a freelance consultant in events management, sports management, and television production and broadcasting. Alawieh also formerly worked as an events and strategy consultant at PwC, an audit and assurance, consulting, and tax services firm with operations across 149 countries. He received his bachelor’s degree in marketing from Barzan University College in Doha, Qatar in 1995. ¹¹

Rinal Chaaban is the projects director at Agence Publics Qatar. She also works as a freelance project director and production, event, and communications consultant. Chaaban formerly worked as a project manager at Ganatch, a waste management and environmental services company in Lebanon. She received her Bachelor of Science in business administration, management, and operations from the American University of Science and Technology in Beirut, Lebanon in 2006. ¹²

1. “Home.” Agence Publics Qatar. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://apq.events/
2. “About – Agence Publics Qatar.” LinkedIn. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/company/apq-events/about/
3. “FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 Closing Ceremony.” Agence Publics Qatar. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://apq.events/showcase/fifa-world-cup-qatar-2022-closing-ceremony/
4. Bredderman, Will. “Oh mama! Qatar bankrolled over a decade worth of films directed by Zohran Mamdani’s mom.” New York Post. August 31, 2025. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://nypost.com/2025/08/31/us-news/qatar-bankrolled-years-worth-of-films-by-zohran-mamdanis-mom/
5. Furcoi, Sorin and Shafi, Showkat. “Qatar holds spectacular World Cup closing ceremony ahead of final.” Al Jazeera. December 18, 2022. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://www.aljazeera.com/gallery/2022/12/18/photos-qatar-world-cup-2022-closing-ceremony
6. “4th Street Child World Cup.” Agence Publics Qatar. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://apq.events/showcase/4th-street-child-world-cup/
7. “The Last Pandemic – Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.” Agence Publics Qatar. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://apq.events/showcase/the-last-pandemic-bill-melinda-gates-foundation/
8. “Doha Film Institute Intaj Exhibition.” Agence Publics Qatar. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://apq.events/showcase/doha-film-institute-intaj-exhibition/
9. “Qatar Fanzone FIFA World Cup Russia 2018.” Agence Publics Qatar. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://apq.events/showcase/qatar-fanzone-fifa-world-cup-russia-2018/
10. “Mohammad Al-Saad.” LinkedIn. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohammad-al-saad-ba64609/
11. “Ali Alawieh.” LinkedIn. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-alawieh-0878978/
12. “Rinal Chaaban.” LinkedIn. Accessed September 27, 2025. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rinal-chaaban-a704a525/