imported 2024-03-17 17:43:07
National Oil and Gas Authority, HE Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza, Bahrain Minister of Oil and Gas
Today, the income from oil and gas constitutes about 80% of the government’s revenue. However, we were also the first GCC country to attempt diversification, in the 1960s and 70s. Thanks to those efforts, oil and gas now only constitute 24% of GDP at current prices (and 12% at constant prices).
Adel Fakhro, Group Managing Director of Abdulla Yousif Fakhro & Sons
Our challenge is to foresee the country’s future development. It is developing very quickly, and it is hard for universities to follow its pace. We believe that partnerships with European, Canadian and American universities will help us to do so.
Abdulrahman A.Hussain Jawahery, President of Gulf Petrochemical Industries Co. (GPIC) and Member of Parliament – Biography
AG fertilizer producers are expected to continue to play a strategic role in meeting this challenge by contributing towards international efforts to increase food production by substantially increasing their share of exports.
Mr. Jawahery explains why there were riots and protest in Bahrain. The protests turned violent after the peaceful movement has been hijacked by the extremists. Why this happened?
Bahrain parliament has always tried to act in favour of the Bahraini people. Mr. Jawahery, the MP, explains the critical role of the parliament in improving the standards of living of the people of Bahrain.
Mr Jawahery talks about the legitimacy of the government of Bahrain, progress towards democracy in Bahrain and gives background to the formation of one of the most liberal countries in the Middle East such as the vote on the constitution and the national charter.
Batelco, the biggest telecom in Bahrain, discusses the strategy in Bahrain over the next couple of years. Batelco Bahrain strategy is to improve services, deliver more value and content to the customer and to retain existing high net worth clients yielding the low cost segment to other players in the market. Strategy in Bahrain is to focus on the existing customer base and improve services.
Batelco, the telecommunication market leader in Bahrain, talks about the regulatory environment in Bahrain. According to Batelco, “there has been too much regulation too quickly.”
The penalizing regulation has put a damper on long term heavy investment choices into the sector – such as optic fiber infrastructure. Batelco is therefore calling for regulatory holidays for the upcoming couple of years to resume the investments.
Peter Kaliaropoulos assesses the telecommunication market in Bahrain and predicts the long term industry trends, beyond 2011. Bahrain is one of the most competitive telecommunication markets in the Middle East. This is because of high levels of penetration for fixed and mobile services and many providers to choose from.
As for the mobile services, three full infrastructure network providers offer services and apps to 1.2 million customers with market penetration greater than 150%. The situation is similar for the fixed network services, ISPs and data networks where broadband penetration for dwellings is over 120%.
Fawzi Ahmed Kanoo, Deputy Chairman of Yusuf Bin Ahmed Kanoo Bahrain, makes a profoundly important case for family business in Bahrain and outlines the future perspectives.
