Gulf Industry Fair 2013 to highlight Bahrain's credentials as world-class industrial hub

Bahrain's credentials as a world-class industrial hub will come under the spotlight in Manama as the Northern Gulf's leading annual business-to-business industrial trade exhibition is staged for the sixth consecutive year.

Gulf Industry Fair 2013, being held from 15 to 17 January 2013 under the patronage of the Prime Minister HRH Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, caters to the fast-growing industrial sectors of Bahrain, the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia and the northern Gulf.

According to organisers Hilal Conferences & Exhibitions (HCE), the Fair provides the ideal networking opportunity for specialist industrial product and service providers, distributors and agencies - representing the aluminium, energy and environmental protection, steel and alloys, industrial processes and manufacturing, ports, logistics and free zones, training and security and safety segments.

The non-oil industrial sector is a key contributor to Bahrain's economy, already one of the region's most diversified. The Kingdom is home to world-scale, export-orientated primary industries which have been flying the flag for the country internationally for decades.

One legacy of Bahrain's rich primary industrial heritage is the presence of a thriving community of secondary manufacturing facilities and specialist products and service suppliers. Consequently, Bahrain's industrial spaces have experienced a cluster effect as companies at different stages of the supply chain draw on mutual synergies.

Underpinning the Kingdom's ability to attract inward investment and position itself as a regional gateway is its 'business friendly' corporate tax and regulatory environment, as well as the government's commitment to developing key transport and logistics networks to ensure the smooth and seamless flow of goods into and out of the country.

Bahrain is (with Oman) also one of only two GCC countries to have signed a free trade agreement (FTA) with the US. Meanwhile, it is also ranked the Middle East's freest economy, and 12th freest in the world, in the latest Index of Economic Freedom published by the US Heritage Foundation.

Bahrain's collective industrial might will be on display at Gulf Industry Fair this week. In addition to the high-level presence afforded by Aluminium Bahrain, one of the world's largest aluminium smelters and Bahrain Petroleum Company (Bapco), a leading integrated energy company, the show will demonstrate the capabilities of several established service-related companies.

These companies boast world class projects and products under their belt supplying countries with developed economies such as the USA and Canada to the BRIC countries and developing new links in Africa and the Far East.

"Gulf Industry Fair is not a local show, but a local showcase for leading companies trading in the global economy," says Jubran Abdulrahman, Managing Director of HCE "many of them use the Fair to invite their international client base to get a feel of their latest projects and capabilities. Last year for example the Panamanian Minister of Commerce came to visit a major investor in his country who was exhibiting at the Fair. We were all proud that this company was Bahraini."