Meeting with a Delegation from the Kingdom of Bahrain

The visiting Bahraini delegation included the Counsellor Nasser Fares Al Qutami, Consul at the Embassy of the Kingdom of Bahrain in Doha, members of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry including Mr. Farouk Al Moayyed, Mr. Samir Abdullah Nass, Mr. Mohammed Abdul-Jabbar Kohaji, Mr. Khalid Ali Amin, Mr. Khalaf Habib Hejair, in addition to Mr. Hamid Youssef Rahma Assistant Undersecretary for Domestic Trade at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, Dr. Zakaria Ahmed Hejrais, Chief Executive Officer of the Universal Bank, Mr. Jihad Ibrahim Amin, a representative of the Trade and Tourism, Mr. Saleh Abdullah Al Belushi, representative for the Information Technology sector and Telecommunications systems, Mr. Moeniss Mahmoud AlMurde, businessman specialized in the trade of paper and printing presses, Mr.  Yusuf Ahmed Al Khaja, a representative of the industry sector, Mr.  Thamer Ibrahim Al Shatr, a representative of the construction sector, Mr. Yusuf Ahmed Mahmoud, medical equipment dealer, Mr. Khalid Ahmed Jamaan, a businessman, Mr. Ali Hassan Khaja, a representative of the information technology sector.

The Qatari side was headed by Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al Thani, QBA Chairman, Mr. Hussein Alfardan, First Deputy Chairman, and Board member Mr. Sherida Saad Jubran al-Kaabi. The meeting was also attended by esteemed QBA members Mr. Nasser Suleiman Haidar, Mr. Salah Murad, Mr. Nabil Abu Issa, Mr. Seraj Al Baker and Mr. Maqbool Habib Khalfan.

Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim welcomed the delegation and praised the existing Qatari Bahraini relations that are portrayed as a model for the GCC and Arab countries in terms of durability, strength and historical ties and fraternal relations between the two peoples. H.E. Sheikh Faisal confirmed that businessmen in the two countries have incentives and possess the potential for consolidating and strengthening economic relations, especially since there are abundant opportunities which allow them to establish partnerships, economic and trade relations which in turn will strengthen the bilateral relations and economies of the two countries.

In his speech Mr. Farouk Al Moayyed thanked QBA members for the warm reception, and talked about the history of relations and the efforts of the two countries in supporting these relations through laying solid foundations for future brotherly relations between the two countries and concluding different agreements that will help the Qatari and Bahraini people achieve their goals and fulfill their needs.

Speaking of the Qatar Bahrain Causeway (also referred to as the Qatar Bahrain Friendship Bridge), Mr. Hussein Alfardan highlighted the benefits of the causeway which aims to facilitate further the communication and cooperation, in addition to the development of trade and the exchange of visits between both countries.

It is expected that the Kingdom of Bahrain will be the first beneficiary of the construction of the Friendship bridge, since the size of Qatar's economy measuring about $ 173.2 billion is multiples of Bahrain’s GDP, which measured $ 22.7 billion at the end of 2011.

It is worth mentioning that the economic cooperation between the two countries is increasing, especially at the level of mutual visits by senior officials and recent economic and trade agreements that emphasize the depth of the fraternal relations between the two countries. The volume of trade exchange between the two countries amounts to $ 825 million at the end of 2011, whereby Qatar's imports from Bahrain is $ 737 million, while exports to Bahrain amounted $ 87.5 million.