HM King’s visit to Turkmenistan: Boosting opportunities for both countries

Manama, Mar. 17 (BNA): The current visit by His Majesty the King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to Turkmenistan is a great opportunity to reach new and wider horizons in the relations between the two countries. Set within the Go East approach by Bahrain to diversify its international relations and contribute to global cooperation, the royal visit aims to strengthen relations and cooperation and to consolidate interests, in line with the orientation by Gulf and Arab countries to move forward with their relations with the Central Asian countries and build on the huge economic opportunities offered by all sides. Economic relations between Bahrain and Turkmenistan saw a great boom with the visit of President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov to Bahrain in February 2011. His Majesty the King announced during the visit the start of trade exchange between the two countries and stressed the keenness of the two countries to develop bilateral relations in all fields, especially the economy. The high-level delegation from Turkmenistan Republic included officials in the areas of oil, gas, economy and trade, and the visit witnessed the signing of agreements in the fields of trade and economy. A memorandum of understanding for economic, trade and technical cooperation and two agreements on avoiding double taxation and preventing financial evasion and on the promotion and protection of investment between the two governments were signed. HM the King’s visit will open a new chapter in the history of the Bahraini-Turkmen relations, especially in the light of the mutual keenness on activating the signed agreements and the existence of qualitative investments in the fields of energy, gas and tourism as well as the Kingdom's advances in new economic areas based on financial technology, logistics and entrepreneurship that contributed to consolidating its position as a leading regional model for reform and sustainable development. There are many distinguished investment opportunities through which the economic and investment cooperation frameworks between Bahrain and Turkmenistan can be developed. The most prominent of these are Bahrain's potential as an important commercial and geographic hub in the Arabian Gulf. It is also the main gateway for goods and commodities to the Gulf Arab states. Bahrain has a strong legislative and financial system that boosts its attractiveness to investors, enjoys unrestricted freedom of transfer and movement of funds, returns and capital, with no customs barriers. In addition, there are many international companies headquartered in Bahrain and operating in various Gulf countries. Bahrain is the gateway to investment in the Gulf states. Bahrain is the fastest growing financial centre in the Middle East, with its free and open economy. It is ranked second in the Middle East and North Africa in the Islamic Finance Development Index. Islamic finance can boost rapprochement between the two countries, especially as the forecasts indicate that the sector value will reach $ 3.4 trillion by 2020. Turkmenistan is ranked fourth in the world in the gas reserves. Therefore, there is a possibility to develop cooperation with Bahrain in this field. In addition, there are possibilities for developing cooperation in agricultural and industrial fields. In the agricultural sector, Bahrain seeks food insurance based on foreign investment in this field, and thus there are promising opportunities for bilateral cooperation, and thus there are promising opportunities for bilateral cooperation. Bahrain and Turkmenistan have held business meting at the puboic and private levels. A meeting was held between the President of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Turkmenistan’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs on July 31, 2018. The importance of developing economic and trade relations between the two countries was emphasized. The two sides also discussed a proposal to organise the Bahrain-Turkmenistan Business Forum soon in the capital Ashgabat, in addition to the need to work on promoting joint ventures between business people from both countries, especially in view of the availability of investment opportunities in several economic sectors such as oil, gas, petrochemicals, food and textile.