On the fringes of the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh, Ali Al-Madifa, CEO of Business Development at the Bahrain Economic Development Council, emphasised that Saudi government investments in Bahrain totaled $9.8 billion US dollars. He added that this represents 29% of the total size of cumulative direct investment in Bahrain, which totals $33 billion.
As a result of Bahrain and Saudi Arabia’s investment cooperation reaching advanced ranks and receiving support from the logical leadership in both of their friendly nations, the Economic Development Council and its partners sought to attract and encourage high-quality Saudi investments, the CEO of Investment of the Economic Development Council added.
The Economic Development Council focuses on attracting direct investments to a number of key sectors, including financial services, communications information technology, industry, and logistical services, in order to develop them and generate job opportunities on the local market. He went on to explain that these investments span a number of these crucial sectors.
According to Ali Al-Madifa, 68% of these investments are owned by the financial services sector, which is followed by 19% by the industries sector.
Al-Madifa emphasised that Bahrain’s numerous competitive advantages are reflected in the operational costs and the availability of specialised local competencies and talents, in addition to the sophisticated judicial system and the sophisticated infrastructure that connects the two kingdoms. Bahrain has also attracted significant interest from Saudi investors, he said.
The CEO of Investment of the Economic Development Council predicted that Bahrain would soon see an increase in Saudi investments, particularly as the frequency of investment cooperation between the two countries’ brethren increased as a result of the Kingdom’s launch of its economic recovery plan, which adopted strategic development projects worth more than $30 billion and created new investment opportunities in infrastructure and priority sectors.
In the first nine months of this year, the Council attracted 921 million US dollars in total direct investments from 66 companies in a range of crucial industries, including financial services, industry, logistics services, tourism, and information and communications technology. These investments are predicted to help create 4,700 additional job opportunities over the following three years.
Bahrain has received investments from the Saudi government worth $9.8 billion.
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