Bahrain woo investors

Manama : Invest in Bahrain Forum and Exhibition 2016 yesterday saw the promotion of major sectors and key projects as investors seemed hesitant to tread uncharted waters.

Tourism, infrastructure, real estate and industrial sectors were the highlights of the forum yesterday besides the GCC railway and ICT projects. Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, who patronised the event, also attended the forum.

Speaking to DT News on the sidelines of the event, GOIC Industrial Investment Department Director Dr. Basel Shahid said that promoting the GCC railway project is important, as investors are still reluctant to join the project. 

“The rail industry is new to the region and usually people are a bit hesitant to enter a new industry. We are hoping that Bahrain will promote this project and attract investments for the project,” he said. 

“The project is divided into many parts, and what Gulf Organisation for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) has done in this workshop is to advise the investors where the investments are needed. There is a delay in the establishment of the railway network and this has opened up a window for some people to take up the opportunities,” Shahid added.

On behalf of the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism, Ernest and Young (EY) presented a number of opportunities for investors in the Bahrain ICT sector. 

EY Director, Financial Advisory Services, Suleiman Ajjawi, told DT News that EY recently completed a comprehensive study to identify the opportunities. 

“The study was initially done covering only Bahrain, later we also covered the rest of the GCC region. We wanted to encourage people to invest, especially in Bahrain, because of the mature infrastructure we have here for the ICT sector thanks to the government initiative to make Bahrain as an ICT hub,” he said. 

“We were asked by the Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism to identify the potential opportunities in the e-commerce. We did a similar exercise a couple of years ago. So early this year we were asked by the Ministry to have another look into it,” he said. 

He added that investors could contact EY to receive more information about the study and details about the investment opportunities.

Director of Tourism Marketing and Promotions at the Bahrain Tourism and Exhibitions Authority (BTEA) Yussef Al-Khan gave an overview of the tourism sector in Bahrain. 

“We are working towards increasing the number of tourists visiting Bahrain. We are also targeting to increase the number of nights the tourists or visitors spends here,” he said during the workshop. 

“We are opening offices in the UK, France, Germany, Russia, Saudi Arabia, India and China to promote tourism to the Kingdom. We have direct flights to all these markets except for China,” he added.