2016 Discover America Week-Bahrain

As we conclude our celebration of the 10th anniversary of the Bahrain-U.S. Free Trade Agreement’s entry into force, I am delighted to announce the kick-off of U.S. Embassy Manama’s second annual Discover America Week.  Discover America Week, which runs from October 18-26, is a celebration of America’s broad commercial relationship with Bahrain, which ranges across food, leisure, manufacturing, shopping, sports, and tourism.

  This year’s Discover America Week will build upon the foundation of last year’s inaugural event to highlight the incredible diversity of America’s commercial presence in Bahrain.  I am excited to announce world-renowned American pastry chef Emily Luchetti will visit Bahrain to participate in the festivities.  Emily will bring a taste of America to Bahrain with a series of cooking demonstrations using American-made products at venues across the Kingdom.  

We also plan to highlight the presence of several American manufacturing companies in Bahrain, among them Mondelez International and the Coca-Cola Bottling Company.  These iconic American brands have chosen to invest in Bahrain as a hub for regional operations, in part because of the unique commercial relationship that exists between our two countries, a relationship enshrined in the Bahrain-U.S. Free Trade Agreement. 

If you are a sports enthusiast, we hope you will join us for a bike ride at the Endura Sports Centre in Zallaq, where we will take advantage of the cooler fall temperatures to use American-made bicycles and safety equipment for an evening ride.  You also can join NBA legend Sam Vincent in cheering on the participants of the first-ever Bahrain Corporate Basketball Challenge.

Finally, we will highlight American products at many of the Kingdom’s malls, hotels and supermarkets throughout the week.  I encourage you to visit Lulu Hypermarket, Al Hawaj, Raising Cane’s, the Shake Shack, and many others to take advantage of the sales on American-made items.  If you are a film aficionado, don’t miss out on American movie nights at the Domain Hotel.

I believe that the Bahrain-U.S. bilateral economic relationship has never been stronger.  Bilateral trade between Bahrain and the United States reached an all-time high last year, and U.S. exports to Bahrain in 2015 increased by more than 20 percent over their 2014 levels.  I hope you will take full advantage of the many commercial events highlighting those exports during Discover America Week.  You can find a complete schedule of events and activities on our website:www.da2016-bahrain.com.  I look forward to seeing you there!

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy of this newspaper.