BAB to hold annual reception in Washington

Manama, July 23 (BNA): The Bahrain Association of Banks (BAB) has announced the beginning of its preparations to hold the annual reception for Bahraini banks on October 8th, 2016, at the Fairmont Hotel in Washington, DC. The event will be organised on the sidelines of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group. A high-profile Bahraini delegation comprising leaders of the financial and banking sector from the public and private sectors, led by the Finance Minister, Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa and the Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB), Rasheed Al-Maraj, will attend the reception. Guests also include central banks’ governors, finance and development ministers, senior private sector officials, academics, managers of sovereign wealth funds, assets and hedge funds and senior officials of insurance and multi-national companies. CEO of the Bahrain Association of Banks, Dr. Waheed Al-Qassim, said that the reception ceremony aimed mainly to shed light on the financial services sector in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and highlight the available investment opportunities to attract more international financial institutions to take Bahrain as a centre for their expansion plans. Dr. Al-Qassim revealed that BAB had launched a wide-scale promotional campaign on the occasion of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group in a bid to attract more investments to the financial sector in the kingdom. The campaign is within the efforts to promote the investment incentives in Bahrain, in line with the government’s policies to woo more regional and international investments into the country, Dr. Al-Qassim explained, extending thanks to BAB members in Washington for their great support and keenness to assist BAB in going ahead with its efforts to implement the strategy devised by its Board of Directors. He voiced BAB’s pride in being keen to assume its responsibilities towards ensuring the success of the Annual Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank Group, as well as in contributing to the efforts exerted by the organisers in this regard. It is worth noting that about 10,000 persons attend the annual meetings, including 3,500 participants from the delegations of the World Bank, 1,000 representatives of media outlets and over 5.000 visitors and special guests from private sector companies, financial sector circles and NGOs. In addition, experts of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund take part in meetings with officials from the delegations of participating countries.