Bahrain-Russian intergovernmental commission holds meeting

Manama, Feb. 21 (BNA): The Bahrain-Russian intergovernmental commission on trade, economic, scientific and technological cooperation today held its first meeting in presence of Russian Ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain, Vagif Garaev, Russian economic delegation and a number of officials of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism. Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Zayed Al-Zayani, chaired the Bahraini delegation, and Russia's Minister of Industry and Trade, V. MANTUROV, led the Russian delegation. The minister expressed Bahrain's interest in enhancing bilateral relation, stressing his honour to host this inaugural meeting of the committee since its formation was announced by HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and President Vladimir Putin late last year in Moscow. He added the commission will contribute to boosting bilateral relations and cooperation in various fields, He stressed the important role of the private sector in promoting the commission, praising the outcomes of the Bahraini-Russian Business Councils meeting held yesterday under chairmanship of Vladimir Dmitriev and BCCI Chairman Khalid Almoayed. During the last two years, we have revised our laws, procedures and policies and reengineered them to streamline business setup in Bahrain together with the automation of our company registration process using our online system of "SIJILAT" and we are proud to say that we have a record of producing a company registration in only 93 seconds. Today, Bahrain is a leader in the GCC in liberalization with only 2% of business activities restricted to 100% Bahraini ownership. The reaming 98% business activities are allowed for foreign ownership with almost 60% of them allowed as 100% foreign ownership. Furthermore, this is available throughout Bahrain and is not restricted to certain economic or free zones. As for tourism, we launched our new tourism identity "Bahrain ours. Yours" in the earlier part of 2016 as well as a new tourism strategy for 2016-2018, built on 4 A’s. Awareness, Attractions, Access and Accommodation. Tourists’ number increased by 6% from 11.6 million in 2015 to 12.3 million in 2016. Moreover, we look at further growth in our tourism sector as we plan for it to double to 7% of our GDP by end of 2018. In an attempt to expand our footprint and tourism reach, we have also appointed seven representative offices in targeted market within the tourism plan; Russia is one very important one of our seven locations. With our reform process well on track, our unique advantages of geography and demography, our competitive cost structure (34% less than Dubai or Doha), our educated and dedicated local workforce we invite you to consider Bahrain as a regional hub for your GCC operations. The results of the deliberations of the First Meeting of the Commission are summarized as follows: The Ministers expressed their satisfaction on the status of bilateral trade and Investment and with the considerable growth of trade turnover in 2016. The Ministers also expressed their willingness to enhance cooperation in the field of banking and finance and in the framework of structured and trade financing in varies structures. The Co-Chairs agreed to enhance bilateral cooperation in various fields of trade, economic, technical and cultural cooperation between Bahrain and Russian regions (St. Petersburg, the North Caucasus Federal District (the Stavropol Territory, the Chechen Republic, and the Republic of Ingushetia). Agreed to further expand mutual cooperation in the field of energy including cooperation opportunities-in gas sphere, LNG supplies and providing services. The Co-Chairs confirmed mutual interest in continuing cooperation in various industrial fields and noted the results of the third Meeting of the Russian-Bahraini Working Group on cooperation in aluminum sphere on the sidelines of experts’ consultations. The Ministers also discussed cooperation in agriculture and animal stock-raising as well as in transportation fields The Ministers recognised the importance of resolving issues that investors in both countries may face within the framework of existing legislation and bilateral agreements. The Ministers underlined the importance of the private sector role, and were pleased with the outcomes of the Russian-Bahraini and Bahraini-Russian Business Councils. The meetings headed byVladimir Dmitriev and Khalid Almoayed respectively, reiterated the commitments to continue working together to expand cooperation between Russian and Bahraini business communities in the areas of mutual particular interest paying special attention to Finance/Banking, Petrochemistry, Food, Health and Medicine, Small & Medium Enterprises (SME), IT and Joint Ventures. They also agreed to hold the next meeting in Russia in 2017.