HRH The Crown Prince To Lead Bahrain Delegation To Russia

Manama: A high level business delegation from the Kingdom of Bahrain will arrive in the Russian Republic today as part of an official state visit led by His Royal Highness Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, the Crown Prince, First Deputy Prime Minister and Chairman of the  Economic Development Board (EDB).

The visit, which begins April 28th and continues to April 30th, will see the delegation engage in high level talks with Russian officials and private sector leaders, and will include meetings with leading businesses in Moscow and St Petersburg. The delegation will also attend a Bahrain-Russia Business Forum organised by the EDB, the Russian-Arab Business Council and the Russian-Bahrain Business Council, to boost investment between the two countries through a number of sessions and one-to-one meetings with private sector business leaders.

Speaking ahead of the visit, H.E. Kamal bin Ahmed, Minister of Transportation and Acting Chief Executive of the EDB said: “It is a great pleasure to be visiting Russia as part of the Bahrain delegation. Russia is an important economic and trading partner – in 2011 the total trade between our two nations stood at $134 million.

Our existing relations are important, but given Russia’s prominence as one of the world’s leading economies we think there is more that can be done. Through visits such as these we look forward to further strengthening our relationship by interacting with expanding businesses and presenting a compelling proposition of Bahrain’s low cost of doing business, highly skilled local workforce, and access to the fast-growing Gulf market, which is expected to reach $2 trillion by 2020.”

H.E. Khalid Al Moayed, Chairman of the BCCI, said: “Our visit to Russia, and participation at the Bahrain-Russia Business Forum, will enable us and our members to strengthen links with Russian businesses that are looking to access the fast growing Gulf market and capitalise on strong investment prospects. In Bahrain you will find a diversified and highly connected economy that is a gateway for international businesses to access the GCC and wider MENA region. We are excited to be speaking to so many Russian business leaders about Bahrain’s compelling business proposition on this visit. Prospects for increased trade and investment between our two countries are strong and we look forward to exploring opportunities to build on our friendship and economic cooperation.”

Bahrain and Russia have a longstanding bilateral economic relationship strengthened by growing trade, which reached over $130 million in 2011. This was enhanced by the establishment of the Russia-Bahrain Business Council, during the historic visit by His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa to Russia in 2008, which supports Russian industrial exports to Bahrain and assists Russian companies in implementing joint projects.