With 22 Arab nations replicating Bahrain Arab Model for Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion, Bahrain-Arab model has emerged as global benchmark for the entrepreneurial development, the Minister of Industry and Commerce said on Thursday.
Dr Hassan Abdullah Fakhro the Minister of Industry and Commerce who honoured the 10-member second batch from the World Eminence Chinese Business Association said that Bahrain would remain committed to human resources development as part of its core strategy aimed at equipping all young Bahrainis with necessary training skills.
“The Arab-Bahrain model can be used as a catalyst to the development of small and medium enterprises and credit of this goes to UNIDO Bahrain which took the very first initiative with the support of the public sector in Bahrain,” he said.
Dr Fakhro, who was joined by the Minister of Housing Shaikh Ebrahim bin Khalifa Al Khalifa and the Chinese Ambassador in Bahrain Yang Weiguo at Ministry of Industry and Commerce Complex, underlined the importance co-operation with China in entrepreneur development areas.
In addition to 22 Arab nations, China is now implementing the same model under the UNIDO’s South-South Co-operation initiative and this year 10 new centers would be opened across China.
Last year, UNIDO through its Arab Regional Center for Entrepreneurship and Investment Training (ARCEIT) had officially launched the first of its kind Enterprise China Center in Beijing.
Dr Fakhro said that such co-operation would help in raising the bar of human resources in Bahrain in addition to creating more job opportunities in all vital sectors. “Bahrain Arab being the pioneer initiative has enabled the Kingdom to work more closely with the friendly countries including China by exploring various opportunities of co-operation,” he added.
Dr Hashim Hussein, head of UNIDO in his speech underlined the importance of South-South Co-operation under the umbrella of UNIDO and said it would open a new era of cooperation and development for both sides. He also lauded the ten Chinese experts who had successfully completed the second capacity building programme aimed at acquainting them with the technical and practical know-how to become specialized Business Counselors who can in turn the needed support services to potential Chinese Entrepreneurs aspiring to establish or grow their existing businesses.
“We are proud that the Kingdom of Bahrain is being looked at by China a world economic leader as the beacon of knowledge on entrepreneurship development through the Bahrain Arab Model,” he said.
“This cooperation and the development of entrepreneurs in China will undoubtedly pave the way for Bahraini and Arab entrepreneurs to establish joint investment projects with Chinese counterparts thus yielding positive achievements economically, socially and culturally,” he added.
“The World Eminence Chinese Business Association in cooperation with UNIDO has embarked – in the first phase – to establish ten Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Centers in various regions of China and we are currently finalizing the steps for the development of the Bahrain-China Technology Transfer Center in Bahrain,” he said.