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BAHRAIN is all set for an all-out blitz on the global business world to entice international companies to once more have the confidence to set up regional headquarters in the kingdom.
Analysts say it still faces a challenging task in the wake of recent unrest and continuous negative international media coverage but calmer waters, agonisingly slow but steady political progress and a growing confidence should pay-off in the medium-to-long-term.
The highly-successful Business Friendly Bahrain message of recent years produced many successes and two major Indian banks were expected to set up base here shortly before trouble erupted in 2011 and changed their focus on more settled Gulf States.
It’s been a bruising time for the Bahrain Economic Development Board (EDB) but it is preparing for action with renewed vigour. A spokesman told GulfWeekly: “The EDB is currently developing new campaigns which include a regional focus on the GCC markets as well as a global approach.
“Whilst further details cannot be provided at this pre-launch stage, the regional campaign will be geared towards GCC nationals to highlight that the kingdom is a great place to visit and do business whilst the global campaign will communicate Bahrain’s core business fundamentals.”
Whilst Bahrain has struggled in recent months, the neighbouring UAE and, in particular Dubai, has bounced back from its own property and banking gloom and appears to be buzzing again.
The competition remains hot but a recent survey by KPMG, a global network of professional services firms providing audit, tax and advisory services, revealed that the number one place to set up business for various commercial reasons in the region remains Bahrain.
It stated: “It is evident that the cost of doing business in Bahrain is the least compared to Qatar and Dubai – Dubai being as much as 25 per cent and Qatar around 40 per cent more expensive than Bahrain, in terms of occupancy, manpower and other living costs.”
Armed with these facts and figures the new campaign should set off on a positive note.
In an advertisement in the Bahrain British Business Forum’s annual directory the EDB used the presence of global carrier DHL as an example of making good business sense by highlighting that Bahrain has the ‘best air, sea and road access to Gulf markets’, ‘airport and seaport expansion’, ‘easy access to the $450 billion Saudi market’ and offers ‘the most central Gulf location’.
It proudly proclaimed ‘Bahrain – Built for Business’ but it is believed the new campaign to win hearts and minds in the global markets may be even more straightforward with a simpler message: Bahrain for business.
The Bahrain EDB is chaired by His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Premier, who has recently travelled extensively, taking in the UK, India and the US for example, to meet with leaders, movers and shakers and he would not have missed the opportunity to try to attract further inward investment into Bahrain.
He would also have been buoyed by the news, as exclusively revealed in GulfWeekly, that Solomon Associates, a Texas-based global oil refinery benchmarking company, had launched a new consultancy arm in the kingdom.
It set up a regional base in the Seef district last month on the recommendation of Hall Delano Roosevelt, the grandson of former US President Franklin D Roosevelt, who now lives in Bahrain, and is director of new business development for Reza Investment Group.
