Organised by the Bahrain Economic Development Board (Bahrain EDB), the second edition of Gateway Gulf 2024 culminated on the 4th of November 2024, underscoring the rapid transformation taking place across the Gulf Cooperation Council’s (GCC). Attended by 250 ministers and global business and industry leaders, the forum spotlighted the region’s high growth sectors including tourism, manufacturing, banking, and sports and leisure. A core theme throughout the day was the benefits that greater integration across the GCC can bring to these sectors, helping to turbocharge the region’s growth.
In the panel session “Tourism as a Growth Accelerator in the GCC,” H.E. Fatima bint Jaffer Al Sairafi, Minister of Tourism for the Kingdom of Bahrain, spoke about the critical role that tourism plays in the region’s economic diversification. Regarding Bahrain’s Tourism Strategy 2022-2026, Al Sairafi stressed the opportunities related to promoting the GCC as a unified destination, with governments working to create the right enabling environment for the private sector to advance Bahrain’s tourism offering.
H.E. Khalid Humaidan, Governor of the Central Bank of Bahrain, provided insights into the country’s evolving financial sector during the panel “The Next Ten Years of Banking.” Highlighting the necessity for digital transformation, Humaidan underscored the importance of leveraging advanced technologies such as cloud computing, AI, and blockchain to drive innovation while balancing regulatory compliance and consumer protection. Humaidan also noted the significance of access to talent, mentioning that 79% of those working in the country’s sector are Bahraini, in addition to the need for broader industry engagement.
Speaking on strategies for diversification across metals, manufacturing, and heavy industries, H.E. Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chairman of Aluminium Bahrain (Alba), shared the importance of building on Alba’s success in aluminium production to expand downstream aluminium industries across Bahrain. Al Rumaihi emphasized the drive to increase local content production, particularly of higher value chain products, and the opportunities associated with closer regional collaboration, particularly on account of shared goals and progress in renewable energy production and the implementation of Industry 4.0.
Shaikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, Chief Executive of Bahrain International Circuit (BIC) meanwhile shared his insights into the significant impact of Formula One (F1) on the country’s global visibility, noting that over 80 million people have tuned in to watch the race since 2004. As a catalyst for the spread of F1 events to UAE and Saudi Arabia, Al Khalifa highlighted that the Formula One venue hosted 363 events in 2023, proving to be not only a sustainable business model but supporting vital skills transfer at the same time.
