Marcopolis presents the Bahrain Report focused on the investments, doing business, economy and other topics featuring interviews with key executives and government officials. The sectors under review are industry, telecom, banking sector, ICT, investments and more.
What in your opinion are the major challenges for Bahrain over the next five years ?
In addition to what I have already stated, with regards to achieving Vision 2030 and the National Economic Strategy (NES), we will of course, during the current year, need to ensure that our economy is fully back on track after the disturbances in February, and this will require getting all sections of society singing from the same song sheet’, and there are already clear signs of this happening.
From the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MOIC) perspective, the coming years will also witness a concerted effort to enhance our industrial infrastructure and to expand global markets through activities in the area of foreign trade negotiations. There lies a major challenge over the coming years in making sufficient industrial land available to meet the requirements of the growing industrial sector.
There is no denying the success of the economic reforms to this point, our main challenge now is to ensure the success of Vision 2030. In my view success is two-dimensional, one dimension is the impact on people in general, improving the general quality of their lives, the other dimension being the success of the businesses that make up the economy. Whilst these two elements are connected, there is a policy challenge in ensuring that the relative success of the two dimensions is balanced.
The focus of the MOIC is on the competitiveness of businesses and providing the private sector with the necessary infrastructure and support mechanisms to allow them to compete effectively in the international market.
At the same time our domestic policies must also be defined within the context of our regional and international obligations and commitments as a member of the GCC and the WTO. Bahrain’s membership of the GCC community underpins growing regional integration, providing opportunities for our citizens and businesses, but it also requires the adoption of common policies, which in some circumstances may not necessarily be the first policy choice for individual members of the GCC, and therefore must be handled appropriately at the domestic level.
A major part of our development strategy in the short to medium term continues to be support to the SMEs, and in particular the creation of the Bahrain Export Development Centre.
There is also a challenge to be met over the coming years for the nation in meeting energy demands in the face of dwindling domestic resources.
All these challenges both short and long term will be met with proper planning and policies set by the wise leadership and implemented by a committed government.
How would you assess an increasingly important role women are playing in the Bahraini government and society at large?
Females make up around 49.5% of the total of 568,424 Bahraini indigenous population, against a total population, including expatriates, of some 1.2 million. Our Bahraini ladies are then, if you will, a very important economic resource. The percentage of women in Bahrain's workforce amounted to 23.5% of the total national workforce in 2001, compared to only 5% in 1971. Bahraini women today, represent 34.3% of the total workforce recorded at the Civil Service Bureau.
This percentage is the highest among the GCC countries Although female employment as a share of working age females is low, it is growing fast; from 27% in 2002 to 30% in 2009, and females occupy positions in virtual all sectors at practically all levels, and with the rights of women being firmly rooted in the year 2000 National Action Charter, which stipulated that "All citizens are equal before the law in terms of rights and duties, without discrimination amongst them because of sex.", and provides for the promulgation of laws to defend women and protect families.
The charter also guarantees the enjoyment of the right to participate in public affairs and political rights for both men and women, especially voting right and nomination for public office. Some examples of women in high office are :
- A Bahraini woman was elected as a president of the UN General Assembly in 2006
becoming only the third woman in history to hold the post.
- On the 21st April 2004, the first Bahraini woman was appointed as a Minister (The
Minister of Health), the first in the Gulf region..
- The second Bahraini women holding the post of a Minister was appointed in 2005 as
The Minister of Social Affairs.
- The Shura (Consultative) Council includes women members
- The first Bahraini woman was appointed as the first judge in Bahrain and in the
Arabian Gulf states in 2006
- There are a number oft Bahraini female Flight Pilots which have joined the national
airline.
At the Ministry of Industry and Commerce (MOIC) we are seeing a growing percentage of new business start-ups by females, who are becoming very active in virtually all sectors of the economy.
Given this background, my assessment is that Bahrain women are playing an increasingly important role in the economy and indeed in all walks of society and public life, and will contribute significantly to the economy in the future, either by way of their employment in business, as business owners or as a part of the productive families initiatives.