Bahrain Investment Park An Attractive Lure For Investors

By Azlina Aziz MANAMA (BAHRAIN), April 1 (Bernama) -- The Bahrain International Investment Park (BIIP) is expected to attract investments worth US$13.26 million (five million Bahraini dinar, US$1 = 0.37 BHD) over the next few years, with 43 new projects and creating more than 8,000 jobs. The park, opened in 2006, is a high quality 247-hectare business park that has been developed by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce for companies seeking a world-class location for their Middle East operations. Marketing Executive Maria Gilsenan said as the park offered a tax free location with significant incentives to trade in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and Middle East markets, investors, including Malaysian companies, should grab these advantages. She added the target market for the BIIP is local, regional and international companies looking to develop manufacturing or international services operations "To date, there are no Malaysian companies having invested or operating in the park, and we are willing to help if they need any information concerning it," she added. She told this at a briefing for Malaysian media participating in a familiarisation trip to the kingdom and organised by the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) recently. Gilsenan further explained that projects chosen for the park should meet certain criteria which among others, involved high quality foreign direct investment and export oriented domestic projects, as well as high value added ventures. Projects from a wide range of sectors have been approved for the park. It includes food products, medical technology, household products, electronics devices, packaging materials and electrical switchgear manufacturing. The number of companies in production within the BIIP stood at 58 as of April 2014, compared to 31 in 2011 and 43 in 2012. The BIIP can house over 70 companies. In October 2014, BIIP announced that investments within the park had reached US$2 billion, of which 85 per cent were from international businesses. The companies include Mondelez, formerly Kraft Foods (US - cheese and powdered beverages), BASF (Germany - chemicals), Siemens (Germany - metallurgical service centre), JBF Industries (India - polyester films & chips), Chemco Group (India) and MTQ Corporation (Singapore - components for oil and gas). The park is situated in a superb location with excellent connectivity and access to both the Bahrain International Airport and the new Shaik Khalifa Sea Port in Hidd. It also enjoys direct motorway access to Saudi Arabia, via the 25km Saudi-Bahrain King Fahd Causeway. Meanwhile, Nader K. Almoayyed, Undersecretary for the Commerce Affairs Ministry of Industry & Commerce said Malaysian companies should look for potential Bahraini partners to promote and sell their products in the country, as well as use it as a distribution centre for halal products to other GCC nations. "Halal food is highly in demand here. If Thailand is talking about halal food, more so should Malaysia, which has a better position in that industry," he added. He expressed the hope of seeing an increase in trade volume between Bahrain and Malaysia, which will contribute to reviving the national economies of both countries. "Investors can take advantage of the modern road networks and air and sea transport lines that are close to all the main business centres in the Arabian Gulf region. "This is in addition to the fact that Bahrain has signed bilateral free trade and economy agreements, including with the United States, and this can benefit businesses," said Nader. Meanwhile, in the face of the challenges posed by declining oil prices and regional unrest, Bahrain remains committed to its programme of economic diversification. "Diversification is a must as we cannot just rely on oil. I would say diversification is a good game changer to boost our economy," said Osama Mohamed Al Arrayedh, Undersecretary for Industry Affairs, Ministry of Industry & Commerce. The advancement of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) as well as significant growth in the manufacturing sector, bodes well for Bahrain's long -term economic future. --BERNAMA