Deputy King chairs EDB's Board meeting

Manama, July 17 (BNA): His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Deputy King, Crown Prince and Chairman of Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) today chaired the EDB's board meeting at Riffa Palace. During the meeting, the Deputy King highlighted the private sector’s vital role in achieving the goals of Bahrain’s Economic Vision 2030. The Deputy King also highlighted that a key priority for the coming period is to strengthen the private sector’s role in driving economic growth, whilst working in parallel to transform the public sector's role into that of a dynamic regulator and facilitator of growth. The Deputy King emphasised the role of Bahrain’s Economic Vision in driving wide-ranging initiatives that enhance the country’s economic environment and regulatory frameworks, adding that Bahrain will continue to build on its successful achievements to guarantee high-value opportunities and highliving standards for all citizens. The Deputy King stressed that continuing to enhance collaboration between the public and private sectors will make an important contribution to accelerating economic growth, and is a key component of Economic Vision, which is based around the principles of sustainability, competitiveness and fairness. The Deputy King concluded by commending the efforts of the EDB’s Executive team in supporting the EDB’s role in attracting investment into Bahrain. During the board meeting, Chief Executive of the EDB, Khalid Al Rumaihi, gave a presentation outlining Bahrain's latest economic developments, as well as the EDB’s progress in implementing its targeted strategy to further develop a number of key economic sectors, such as the Financial Services and ICT sectors. The EDB's Chief Executive also touched on the year-on-year real growth rate, which reached 4.5% in the first quarter of 2016, and that the non-oil sector contributed 2.2% and the oil sector 2.3%.