Bahrain World Trade Center and Bahrain Financial Harbour, Manama. >
BAHRAINI STYLE
As the first country to open a University in the Gulf, Bahrain is also home to the best skilled and educated workforce of the region, a fact that further reduces the total investment required to locate business operations in the country. Bahrain´s comparatively low costs of living and doing business are a major attraction to inward investment. Tamkeen, a government backed fund established in 2006, was created to build on the country´s talent offering subsidized education and professional training as well as funding for the small and medium enterprises expansion. The number of unemployed Bahrainis registered at the Ministry of Labour has remained above 6,000, although the official unemployment rate has dropped just below 4% from its June peak. Total local workforce is estimated at 183,391 people with 82,013 jobs covered by the private sector. Bahrain is also well known for the hospitality of its people and tourism, a major contributor to the country´s fight towards youth unemployment, remains one of the key selected sectors for investment. Although it experienced important setbacks as a result of domestic unrest, several factors indicate its recovery such as the return of the F1 race to the island as well as the increase of tourist cruise ships. “Hotel occupancy levels are edging up gradually into an estimated 47% “, EDB reported citing Ernst & Young. “Arrivals on the Saudi causeway reached 6.4mn in January-September 26.4% up from 2011 and passenger numbers at the Bahrain International Airport rose by 8.8% to a total of 8.5mn”. Real estate developments are shaping a new skyline in Manama City and virtually creating entire new communities in cities like Muharraq and Riffa. With Bahraini hospitality as the base, health tourism and MICE are also expanding with Dilmunia Health Island as the growth catalyst of the sector and a new ExpoCity to be inaugurated in the next two years. The clear challenge ahead for Bahrain is to rebuild the social cohesion in order to achieve what was set out in Vision 2030 and the National Economic Strategy (NES) and be able to provide for future generations. @
Sunset in Manama City
40