India-Bahrain partnership meet to focus on bilateral trade

Seeking to galvalise India's commercial ties with Bahrain, a first-ever partnership conference in Manama will focus on ways to enhance the USD 2 billion bilateral trade.
The Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) will lead a high-level delegation from India consisting of ministers, government officials and industry leaders to the India-Bahrain Economic Partnership Conference and Exhibition, a three-day event.
Minister of State for External Affairs E Ahmed and CII president and executive vice chairman of Infosys S Gopalakrishnan are scheduled to attend, the Gulf Daily News reported.
India's Ambassador to Bahrain Mohan Kumar said that more business-to-business interaction was needed to boost trade levels and promote bilateral investment.

"Governments are basically enablers and it is up to private enterprises in both countries to tap the huge potential that exists," Kumar said.
Key themes of the event that begins today would be information and communications technology (ICT), healthcare and pharma as well as small and medium enterprises (SMEs), the ambassador said.

"India is renowned worldwide for its expertise in ICT and pharma, both of which are developed using a lot of indigenous technology. I feel that Bahraini firms, specially SMEs, have a lot to gain through partnerships and joint ventures with Indian firms, who can offer cost-effective and high-quality solutions that are appropriate to the market," he said.

Kumar said the strategic location of Bahrain was an opportunity for Indian businesses to reach out to key markets in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Economies of the GCC are continuing to diversify offering exciting opportunities for foreign investors and new products for export to foreign markets.
"We hope Indian businesses looking to access the Gulf market will benefit from this opportunity," Kumar said.