Bahrain was inducted into the Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development on Monday.
The GCC country has become the fourth member of the grouping, which has the UAE, Jordan and Egypt as the other member countries.
The signing ceremony for inducting Bahrain took place at the second meeting of the partnership’s Higher Committee, held in Cairo.
The agreement was signed by Dr. Nevin Gamea, Egyptian minister of trade and industry, Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, minister of industry and advanced technology of UAE, Yousef Al Shamali, Jordanian minister of industry, trade and supply, and Zayed Al Zayani, minister of industry, commerce and tourism of Bahrain.
The Industrial Partnership for Sustainable Economic Development was announced in the UAE on May 29, 2022.
It aims to establish large joint industrial projects, create job opportunities, contribute to increasing economic output, diversify the economies of the partner countries, support industrial production and increase exports.
The addition of Bahrain to the grouping is expected to increase the partnership’s total industrial manufacturing value to $112.5 billion from $106.26 billion.
Bahrain has a strong industrial sector with more than 9,500 companies and 55,000 employees and $4.3 billion in industrial foreign direct investments.
The Kingdom is particularly prominent in oil and gas, aluminum, iron ore, petrochemicals, plastics, food processing, textiles, and engineering.
The country’s competitive advantages include advanced communication, technology and transportation infrastructure, and other enablers and incentives.
The Higher Committee also identified 12 projects worth $3.4 billion for phase one of feasibility studies and due diligence.
The projects were selected from 87 industrial project proposals focused on fertilizers, agriculture and food sectors.
In the next phase, the Partnership will focus on the metals, chemicals, plastics, textiles and clothing sectors.
In 2019, UAE, Egypt, Jordan, and Bahrain accounted for 30 percent of the Middle East and North Africa’s industrial contribution to GDP, totaling $65 billion worth of industrial exports.
The value of foreign direct investments in the UAE, Egypt and Jordan reached $151 billion during 2016-2020, accounting for 42 percent of the new foreign direct investment in the Middle East.
The total value of the countries’ exports stood at $433 billion in 2019, while imports amounted to approximately $399 billion.
The addition of Bahrain, which has a GDP of $39 billion, will greatly enhance the Partnership and contribute significantly to its results.
The Partnership is expected to increase the GDP of member countries by $809 billion by unlocking billions worth of opportunities across sectors, including $1.7 billion in the food and agricultural sector, $4 billion in the minerals sector, $1.7 billion in chemicals and plastics, and $0.5 billion in medical products.
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