The State of Qatar opened its first Embassy in Austria in July 1975, which was the second mission of the Gulf countries after Saudi Arabia. In the same year, the medical office was opened in order to handle the high number of applications of Qatari nationals who intended to visit Austria for medical treatment. In September 1998 the embassy closed its doors.

However, in September 2001 the State of Qatar opened its representative office in the embassy of the Sultanate of Oman in Vienna. The country’s representation continued unchanged until the end of February 2009 when the Austrian president Dr. Heinz Fischer visited Doha, accompanied by a large business delegation, in order to strengthen the relations between the two countries and increase cooperation in all fields.

Furthermore, His Excellency Dr. Khalid bin Mohammed Al-Attiyah, who was then Minister of State for International Cooperation and Acting Minister of Business and Trade, visited the Austrian capital from 4 to 5 November 2009 with an economic delegation. This visit, during which he met the Austrian President Dr. Heinz Fischer, the Ministry of Economy and the Deputy Minister of Finance, gave another great impetus to the bilateral relations between the two countries.

The Minister emphasized in his meeting with the Austrian President the importance of developing the relations between Austria and Qatar, including the opening of embassies in the two capitals.

The visit of His Excellency Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani to Vienna in 2010 inaugurated a new chapter in the history of relations between the two countries.

In 2011 the former Austrian Foreign Minister Dr. Michael Spindelegger took the decision of opening an Austrian embassy in Doha and of appointing a non-resident ambassador, exercising his duties from the Austrian capital, while Ms. Sieglinde Fedele Di Catrano assumed the functions of Chargé d'Affaires in Doha. Consequently, in 2012 the Embassy of the State of Qatar reopened its doors in Austria.

Despite of the austerity policy imposed on the Austrian Foreign Ministry to reduce the number of its diplomatic missions abroad, a resident Ambassador in Doha, Dr. Willy Kempel, was appointed in December 2015.