Bahrain has set 800 million dollars (BD302.4m) as its yearly target for new international investment in the Gulf state, reported the Gulf Daily.
The target could be achieved through global marketing and slashing red tape for new ventures, according to the country’s Economic Development Board (EDB).
“Bahrain is suffering because too few major investors know what it has to offer, but the EDB intends to change all that,” said EDB’s chief executive officer, Jamal Al Hazeem.
He said EDB would set the pace for Bahrain’s future economic strategy, slashing red tape and the time it takes to literally set up shop.
“This will be cut to a matter of days from when an investor first applies for a commercial license,” he added.
Our long-term goal is to help diversify Bahrain’s economy, both in geographic terms and by product and service sector, he said.
“EDB will be the place where potential investors could begin the process of establishing a local foothold.”
Hazeem said that EDB is targeting key industries in five economic clusters: information technology (IT) and telecommunications, education and training, tourism, health care and financial services.
But he said the current stream of investments into Bahrain was not encouraging, said the paper.
“The main reason is because we still have not properly marketed our country in the global arena,” said Hazeem.
“Potential international investors still lack adequate information on the country’s investment climate,” he noted – Albawaba.com
