Sushma Swaraj visited Bahrain

Sushma Swaraj, the Union Minister of External Affairs and Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs visited Bahrain. She was on a two day visit to the country from 6 September to 7 September 2014. This was Swaraj’s first official visit to Bahrain and to the Gulf region.

During the official-tour, she met with His Majesty the King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain and also interacted with the top Bahraini leadership. A range of bilateral, regional and global issues of mutual interest were discussed during the meet with the leaders.

Apart from this, she also attended the inaugural Indian Diaspora Engagement meet for Indian businesses in Bahrain. The meet was organised by Overseas Indian Facilitation Center (OIFC) and was held in Manama.  Aim of the meet was to acquaint the Indian Business group with the various investment opportunities in India and also seek investments from the nationals of Bahrain.

The OIFC is a public- private initiative of the Ministry of Overseas Indian Affairs and Confederation of Indian Industry for promotion of
• Overseas investments into India
• Facilitation of business partnerships
• For assisting States in India to project investment opportunities to overseas Indians

India and Bahrain relationIndia and Bahrain shares a cordial and friendly relation that is marked by close people to people contacts and regular high-level political exchanges. His Majesty King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa paid his first State visit to India in February 2014. Bahrain as a Gulf nation is a home for 350000 Indian nationals, who work there and contributes to the development of the country.

In the Gulf region, Bahrain is an important partner of India and its bilateral trade in 2013-14 exceeded 1.3 billion US dollar.