Bahrain Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Tourism has discussed bilateral investment cooperation with UK’s Department for International Trade.
Mr. Zayed bin Rashid Al Zayani, Minister of Industry, Commerce and Tourism and British Secretary of State for International Trade Ms. Anne-Marie Trevelyan explored new opportunities to expand partnerships that serve the two countries, strategic and development strategies.
Mr. Al Zayani affirmed the role of the UK as a major global partner, stressing steadily-growing economic ties and longstanding historic relations between Bahrain and Britain. These joint strategic visions which yielded key deals, particularly the free trade agreement between the GCC member states and Britain represents a historic turning point in trade and investment relations.
The two sides also reviewed ways of boosting the volume of bilateral investments. Mr. Al Zayani stressed Bahrain’s keenness on expanding cooperation across all fields, commending the role of the private sector in achieving common goals.
In 2021, Bahrain’s Minister of Finance and National Economy Shaikh Salman Bin Khalifa Al-Khalifa affirmed to deepen the historical relations between Bahrain and the UK in various fields, especially in the financial and economic fields.
Bahrain is aiming to boost the contribution of tourism to Bahrain’s economy to 11.4 percent of economic output by 2026, up from about 7 percent, while boosting visitor numbers to 14.1 million a year.
Bahrain’s economy is expected to grow 3 percent in 2022 on the back of higher oil prices and output and a rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic. Inflation in Bahrain surged to a six-year high of 3.2 percent year-on-year in February, driven by the doubling of VAT to 10 percent from January. A combination of this, recovering demand and higher global commodity prices will push inflation to a still-moderate 3 percent on average in 2022-23, the National Bank of Kuwait (NBK) projected.
