Finance minister attends Chatham House conference

London, June 8 (BNA): A two-day conference spotlighting the economic outlook in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region opened today in London. The Royal Institute of International Affairs - Chatham House – is organsing the key conference under the theme: "MENA Economies: Diversification, Growth and Employment". Finance Minister Shaikh Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Khalifa attended the event which is bringing together policy and business leaders to address critical issues on the MENA economic reform agenda. Addressing the conference, the minister outlined Bahrain's decades-long efforts to achieve national economic diversification. "Bahrain understood since the 1960s and 1970s the crucial importance of embarking on a viable policy of economic diversification, having realized that its limited oil reserves would begin to deplete", he said. The minister highlighted the pivotal sectors which developed since them to become key pillars of the national economy, citing in particular aluminum industries, financial and banking services, petrochemicals, telecommunications and the real estate. He underlined the crucial importance of these sectors in bolstering Bahrain's economic competitiveness and attracting foreign direct investments (FDI). He outlined Bahrain's political reforms which yielded a democratic system based on the separation of powers (executive, legislative and judicial branches of government). The minister shed light on the 2030 Economic Vision, which aims at laying the foundations of Bahrain's future development march, incorporating the principles of competitiveness, sustainability, justice and comprehensive reforms. He stressed other key strides, citing the establishment of the Economic Development Board (EDB) and the Labour Fund (Tamkeen) and the deregulation of the telecommunication sector which reduced the contribution of oil to the Gross Domestic Product and pushing Bahrain's diversification strategies forward. "Bahrain has been achieving an average annual growth rate of 4.9 percent since the year 2000", he said, stressing the Kingdom's success in attracting massive foreign direct investment that represent 54% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). He underlined promising sectors which can further bolster the national economy and spur growth, stressing particularly the tourism industry, logistic services, Islamic finance, healthcare services and agriculture.