PM Gilani, Bahrain Crown Prince Meet

Wednesday, July 15, 2009 at 6:51 pm

SHARM-el-SHEIKH, Egypt: Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani and Crown Prince of Bahrain Sheikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al-Khalifa met here on sidelines of Non-Aligned Movement summit and discussed ways to strengthen bilateral cooperation in diverse fields. PM Gilani, Bahrain Crown Prince Meet

Prime Minister Gilani said Pakistan attaches utmost importance to its relations with the Kingdom of Bahrain and wishes to further strengthen these fraternal ties.

The Prime Minister said the regular high level exchanges between the two countries could play a vital role in enhancing bilateral cooperation in diverse fields.

He hoped that the inaugural session of bilateral political consultations between Pakistan and Bahrain would be held in near future.

Gilani said the Joint Ministerial Commission was a useful forum for enhancing economic and trade relations between the two countries and hoped that the next session would be held in Islamabad soon.

He said Pakistan offers lucrative incentives to foreign investors in almost all the sectors of economy and invited the Bahraini entrepreneurs to benefit from the investment-friendly environment in Pakistan.

He said the two countries needed to explore new avenues of bilateral collaboration in the defence and security areas, adding that Bahrain could benefit from Pakistan’s defence manufacturing and research facilities.

The Prime Minister said almost 55,000 Pakistani expatriate community in Bahrain was making valuable contributions to the economic and social development of Bahrain.

He hoped that Bahrain would give preference to manpower from Pakistan to meet its manpower requirements especially in the fields of defence, internal security, health, engineering and construction.

The Crown Prince of Bahrain reciprocated the Prime Minister’s desires for strengthening bilateral relations between the two countries.

He supported joint economic ventures between the two countries for the mutual benefit of their peoples.

Prime Minister Gilani accepted an invitation to visit Bahrain in the last quarter of this year, dates of which will be finalized later.