Published: 21.2.2013
Author: Veronika Forejtová, press spokeswoman forejtova@mpo.cz
The subject of the meeting was an assessment of bilateral economic relations and setting of priorities for their further development.
Minister of Industry and Trade Martin Kuba meets Bahraini Deputy Prime Minister.
ON THURSDAY MINISTER OF TRADE AND INDUSTRY MARTIN KUBA MET THE BAHRAINI DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER SHEIK KHALID BIN ABDULLA KHALIFA, WHO IS IN THE CZECH REPUBLIC ON AN OFFICIAL VISIT. THE SUBJECT OF THE MEETING WAS AN ASSESSMENT OF BILATERAL ECONOMIC RELATIONS AND SETTING OF PRIORITIES FOR THEIR FURTHER DEVELOPMENT.
In his introduction Minister Kuba expressed his satisfaction that the accompanying delegation also included representatives from the Bahraini business community, and that the visit thus had not only a political, but also a significant business dimension. “The search for specific projects for mutual cooperation by businessmen from both countries is a task to which we will be devoting ourselves in our mutual relations as a matter of priority”, said Minister Kuba.
The Bahraini Deputy Prime Minister confirmed his interest in the development of mutually beneficial relations. He welcomed the practical focus of the talks and in turn offered Czech companies cooperation in a number of sectors.
One of the areas which the ministers discussed was the state ALBA aluminium company, whose executive director Hashem Admed Alkooheji was a member of the accompanying delegation. The aluminium plant plans to expand its current programme to include higher value added products. In founding a joint venture now the aluminium company is looking for a foreign partner with experience of processing aluminium semi-finished products for the specific needs of industry and the construction sector. “These products will be available not only to the local market, but will also have significant export potential, since there are no taxes in Bahrain, energy input costs are subsidised and there is a low-cost local labour force”, said Sheikh Khalid bin Abdulla Al Kalifa.
“We will be giving this offer the attention it merits. We consider Bahrain a country with a stable economy, high standard of living, a liberal trade environment and understandable trade legislation. For this reason we would be pleased to extend our mutual relations into areas which will be appropriate and interesting for both parties”, replied Minister Kuba, and gave other possible areas of potential cooperation. These are in particular supplies and services related to transport infrastructure projects, reconstruction and expansion of the capacity of existing refineries, gas pipelines, oil pipelines, goods and services for the electrical distribution network and for the energy sector in general.
Representatives of the two most important representative bodies for Czech business – President of the Czech Confederation of Industry Jaroslav Hanák and Director of the Foreign Committee of the Czech Chamber of Commerce Jiøí Hansl both took part in the discussions. They presented the successes of our companies in the Middle East to the Bahraini delegation, and confirmed the interest of Czech businessmen in developing further contacts with trading partners in the region.