Industry minister opens Indian Business Partnership Summit

Manama, Feb. 7 (BNA): On the sidelines of the Gulf Industry Fair 2017, the Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism Zayed R. Alzayani opened the "Indian Business Partnership Summit" in the presence of Indian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain, Alok Kumar Sinha. The summit is organised by PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry at the Bahrain International Exhibition and Convention Centre. During the summit, the Minister delivered a speech stating that "the Kingdom of Bahrain enjoys a geographic location in the heart of the Arabian Gulf puts most GCC capitals within an hour's flight and road access to the largest market in the GCC, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, is less than an hour's drive away." "Another advantages is that of costs to operate in Bahrain is lower by 34% when compared to Doha and Dubai. Bahrain over the centuries has always been an oasis of peace and has welcomed visitors from all over the world creating a cosmopolitan society that has earned Bahrain first rank overall in GCC quality of life as per HSBC explorer survey for 2015" The minster noted that "the volume of non-oil Trade between our two countries for 2016 was $648 million, where Bahrain imported $499 million from India, and exported $148 million to India. One should also not ignore Indian companies who have chosen to set up manufacturing or trading operations in Bahrain." He added that "Following the wishes of HM King Hamad bin Isa AlKhalifa, King of Kingdom of Bahrain, and the instructions of the Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman AlKhalifa, and with guidance support of HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad AlKhalifa, the Crown Prince Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, we have been working diligently with our colleagues at Bahrain Economic Board as well as Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry over the past 2 years to overhaul our investment landscape. An exercise so elaborate that it has been termed as the most detailed overhaul in 40 years." He noted that "We started by analyzing procedures and policies and reengineered them in the hope to streamline business setup in Bahrain. We automated our company registration process, and celebrated that success milestone when we achieved a record of producing a company registration in 93 seconds. We went through a laborious legal review whereby the result was redrafting and approving four laws with a direct economic impact. Finally, we moved onwards to liberalize 97% of our sectors to allow foreign ownership including almost 60% of them allowed as 100% foreign ownership." The minister added that "almost four months ago, at the Government Forum, HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad AlKhalifa, the Crown Prince Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister, announced that the time has come for the private sector to take the lead in Bahrain's economy. HRH also added that government role would shift from being the major contributor in the GDP to that of an enabler, regulator, facilitator and partner for the private sector. Originally launched in 2008, economic vision 2030 was reinforced with further focus being directed to new sectors such as Financial Service, ICT, Tourism, Logistics and Manufacturing, in a clear attempt to further diversify from an oil and gas based economy." The summit aims to promote bilateral trade between India and Bahrain and looks forward to Bahrain companies playing bigger role in India's next phase of growth to further build partnerships for mutual business cooperation. A large number of delegates attended from energy sector, Solar, oil and gas, real estate, industrial safety and security, financial services, venture capital funds, logistics, ports and maritime, startups, aluminum, manufacturing, industrial metals and academic and research. (Industry, Commerce and Tourism Ministry)