In remarks following the bilateral meeting in the Oval Office, the President praised Qatar as "a center of innovation" and said the country has shown enormous progress ranging from education to health care under the Amir's leadership.
And the record will be even stronger if Mrs Gregoire makes the progress she hopes on education reform, health-care costs and government accountability.
It will explore mechanisms for setting benchmarks and targets, for overcoming obstacles that hinder development of early childhood care and education services and for monitoring progress towards service delivery.