Two giant pandas head to Qatar ahead of World Cup

Suhail and Soraya will start a new life in Doha

A Chinese giant panda at the Panda Park in Al Khor, north Qatar. AFP

Qatar on Wednesday became the first country in the Middle East to receive Chinese giant pandas – Suhail and Soraya – who, in true Arabian Gulf fashion, took up residence in luxury air-conditioned quarters. AFP

The Chinese government sent the animals as a gift to mark the Fifa World Cup that starts on November 20. AFP

China did not qualify for the event, but is a major importer of natural gas from Qatar. AFP

One of the pandas in their enclosure at the Panda park in Al Khor. AFP

One of the pair exploring the new enclosure. AFP

A Chinese giant panda in an enclosure at the Panda park in Al Khor. AFP

All Chinese giant pandas, no matter where they are born or live, are owned by the Chinese government. AFP

Suhail, a male panda sent by China to Qatar as a gift for the World Cup, in his shelter at the Panda House Garden in Al Khor, near Doha. AP

A young admirer watches one of the pandas that arrived on a special flight from China. Reuters

Al Khor Park Panda House, Qatar. Reuters

Unsurprisingly, the new attractions are a popular subject for amateur photographers. Reuters

Children pose for a photograph in front of a giant panda teddy on the day two pandas arrived from China. Reuters

The pair of Chinese giant pandas left their home in Sichuan province to fly across the continent to Qatar. Photo: @MofaQatar_EN / Twitter

Chinese ambassador to Qatar, Zhou Jian, before the welcoming ceremony. Photo: @MofaQatar_EN / Twitter

Si Hai and Jing Jing are taking on more local names on arrival in Qatar. Photo: @MofaQatar_EN / Twitter

The pair are being delivered from the China Conservation and Research Centre for the Giant Panda. Photo: @MofaQatar_EN / Twitter

All involved in the move hope the pandas will acclimatise seamlessly. Photo: @MofaQatar_EN / Twitter

Two giant pandas have embarked on a long journey from China's Sichuan province to Qatar.

Soraya and Suhail, a gift from China to the World Cup host nation, will take the 12.5-hour flight on Tuesday, landing in Doha on Wednesday morning.

The Fifa World Cup Qatar 2022 will run from November 20 to December 18.

At a farewell ceremony for the pandas, Qatar's ambassador to China, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al Duhaimi, said the gift "symbolises the depth of relations between the two countries", Qatar's state news agency reported.

China's ambassador to Qatar, Zhou Jian, posted about the journey as it happened. "See you tomorrow," he wrote, followed by the hashtag #PandainQatar.

"Hope they will bring happiness and love to our friends in Qatar and the region."

It is the first time pandas have been gifted to a Middle East nation. Their new home at Al Khor Zoo and Park has been shortlisted for the World Architecture Festival’s Display Completed Buildings Award.

The panda enclosure at Al Khor was inspired by the Wolong National Nature Reserve in China, home to more than 150 giant pandas, designers Dar say.

"The roof of the enclosure has a mountain-like shape that provides ample natural light through its integrated skylights and that gives the enclosure a natural flow that mimics the native habitat of the pandas," it said in July.

China has given pandas as gifts to other nations for hundreds of years. One of the first recorded pandas sent to another nation was during the seventh century's Tang Dynasty. A pair of bears, thought to be pandas, were sent to Japan by Empress Wu Zeitan.

The practice was revived in 1941, when China sent two pandas to New York's Bronx Zoo.

Pandas used to be given unconditionally as gifts, but in 1984 China began entering into leasing agreements for the furry bears. Recipient nations pay a fixed rate every year for a set period. The lease can then be renewed or the pandas and their offspring will be returned to China.

"Panda diplomacy provides a momentary injection of good­will and often coincides with major diplomatic events and trade deals," the American Enterprise Institute's Linda Zhang wrote last year. "That being said, panda diplomacy is a limited tool, and it cannot sustain positive relations between China and panda host countries in the lon­ger term."