Bahrain, UK discuss ways to broaden areas of bilateral economic cooperation

Manama, Feb. 1 (BNA): Industry, Commerce and Tourism Minister, Zayed bin Rashid Al-Zayani, has asserted that the United Kingdom is a major international investment partner to the kingdom, noting that the volume of bilateral economic and trade relations is growing steadily, reflecting the importance of the long-standing relations between the two kingdoms, in line with the visions of their strategic partnership. The minister was speaking during his meeting today with the British Minister for International Trade, Ranil Jayawardena, in the presence of the Industry Ministry’s Undersecretary, Eman Ahmed Al-Dossari, Assistant Undersecretary for Domestic and External Trade, Shaikh Hamad bin Salman Al Khalifa, and the UK Ambassador to Bahrain, Roderick Drummond, in addition to senior officials from the two countries. The two sides discussed the frameworks of bilateral investment cooperation and new opportunities to expand the scope of the existing partnership to serve the strategic and development policies and visions of the two friendly countries. They also discussed a number of issues of common interest and ways to develop and increase the volume of joint investments in the coming period. The minister underlined the kingdom’s keenness to broaden areas of cooperation with the UK in all fields, particularly trade, highlighting the key role played by the private sector in the two friendly countries in achieving common interests. He also lauded the positive developments that have taken place since the launch of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed between the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and the UK in October, 2021, noting that the FTA crowns the deep-rooted strategic relations between the GCC and UK.