National economy expansion initiatives highlighted

Manama, Apr. 16 (BNA): Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani, in a press conference on the sidelines of the Global Entrepreneurship Congress 2019, stressed the ministry’s persistent to implement government’s initiatives aimed at expanding the base of national economy under Bahrain Economic Vision 2030, policies of the government chaired by HRH the Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and directives of HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, which resulted in the formation of the Small and Medium-sized Enterprises Development Council to achieve the economic objectives of the Government Action Plan. The minister said the ministry follows a five-year plan for the implementation of 17 government initiatives, chiefly increasing Bahrainization rate in the SMEs’ sector, raising the SMEs’ export rate, in addition to boosting the same sector’s contribution to the domestic production and encouraging more SMEs to join the market. He said the main challenges in this area lie in creating more employment opportunities and orientating jobseekers to become job creators. He added that with aim of expanding the base of national economy and promoting the export of domestic production, an exclusive agreement has been signed between Bahrain Export Bahrain and Gulf Air’s Falcon Cargo to provide the SMEs with special discount of up to 40% on their cargo exports of 100 kilograms or above.