Kingdom remains ‘a trendsetter’ in transforming economic landscape

Bahrain has always been at the forefront in innovation by taking the lead in all major areas of regional economic transformation initiatives, thanks to the leadership’s vision and commitment to brave the challenges of change, experts observed. Minister of Transportation and Telecommunication, Kamal Ahmed, who was among the panelists at the 18th Arab Businessmen and Investors Conference 2019, told Bahrain News Agency (BNA) that Bahrain boasts having a clear vision under the leadership of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Under the patronage of His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the 18th Arab Businessmen and Investors Conference 2019 are concurrently being held in conjunction with the Third World Entrepreneurs Investment Forum organised by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation in Bahrain (UNIDO). Referring to HM King’s speech during the opening of the parliament session, the minister said that “we have to engage as a government and private sector in developing an maximising the benefits of the for the industrial revolution.”

“Today, everybody is talking about the IOT, AI and others in Bahrain; to enable this development you need that the vision is there. First is the infrastructure; there is no way you can develop this AI application unless you have the digital infrastructure. We are not talking about the airport here and the roads but I am talking about the fibre optic that covers all parts of Bahrain, mobile network, 5G network.

That is what we have done exactly, we have focused in making sure that the backbone of this revolution exists in the Kingdom of Bahrain,” the minister said, while referring to the title of the session “An intelligent future for all; Innovation, Ethics and Diversification.” “Secondly, we are working on establishing a business enabling environment. The question is how to benefit from artificial intelligence (AI) and new technology and the government has been working outside the regulatory areas as we want to work with the private sector; enabling them to work and no need of over-regulation.

“If there is a regulation, we want to work with them and to make sure it is enabling them to do their job as well as protecting the other people’s rights. “Thirdly, making sure that we have to build an innovative eco-system as it has to come from everywhere. You have the infrastructure, the business environment, but it also needs access to capital. “People who have ideas also need access to capital; they need a place to do their job for that we have created the accelerator or the FinTech accelerator.

“Again, we need also to improve our R and D centres, we need our education institutions, the higher educational institutions like the University of Bahrain and Bahrain Polytechnic to start establishing the AI centres because from there, one can nurture all these ideas. This is the area we need to excel in and also, we need to continue to attract Foreign Direct Investment. Yes, we need Bahrainis, but we also need foreigners to accelerate the process.”

Sameer Abdulla Nass, Chairman of the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) Board of Directors told BNA that BCCI has accomplished many strides since the new body was elected by the members 18 months ago. “Our focus has been revolving around the change, innovation and facilitation of businesses by providing them a levelled playing field. The Cabinet has approved the changes to laws which was necessitated by the new board in line with its commitment to serve the business community in better, efficient and result-oriented ways,” he said.

Talking about change, he added, the new board means business and we would continue with this our flagship project ‘business first.’ “As we are celebrating eight decades of serving Bahrain’s private sector since the establishment of the BCCI. We will continue to work hard to uphold the commitment of the chamber to serve this sector diligently, efficiently and objectively,” he said.