H.E. Mr. Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Minister of Industry and Commerce, chaired the seventeenth meeting of the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Council, with the participation of board members, the meeting took place on Sunday 10^th of September 2023 in (HQ) Coworking space in Seef Mall, the biggest Coworking space in Bahrain authorized by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce.  

H.E. praised the pivotal role of SMEs in growing the national economy, noting the government's full support for this sector.

The meeting included a presentation reviewing the Council's performance indicators for the years (2022 – 2026), followed by a review of the updated target values.

Moreover, Council members also reviewed the developments and achievements of a number of initiatives under progress, as part of the Council's strategic work plan, whereas the Bahrain Development Bank provided an overview of banking solutions for emerging and small and medium enterprises. Export Bahrain also gave a presentation on the latest developments and solutions in export.

For their part, Tamkeen briefed the SDB on the "Startup Bahrain Rounds" initiative, which supports Bahraini startups with potential to grow and expand, by presenting their entrepreneurial ideas to investors for funding and investment.

In conclusion, H.E. the Minister expressed his appreciation to the efforts of members in developing the SMEs sector and enhancing its contribution to the national economy.​

H.E. Mr. Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro stressed the depth of the historical bilateral relations between Bahrain and India, noting the importance of investing these strong relations in creating and developing economic partnerships between the two sides.

This came during a meeting that gathered His Excellency Mr. Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Minister of Industry and Commerce, and Mr. Mukesh T. Kavalani, Chairman of the Thattai Hindu Merchants Community, in the presence of a number of Board Members.

The meeting discussed a number of topics of common interest, as well as the positive results of the official visit of the Bahraini economic delegation to India last March, headed by His Excellency the Minister of Industry and Commerce, where His Excellency highlighted the attractive investment environment in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and the privileges and facilities the Kingdom provides to investors inside and outside of Bahrain, stressing their importance in improving economic and trade relations to achieve common goals and aspirations .

For his part, Mr. Mukesh T. Kavalani, Chairman of the Thattai Hindu Merchants Community, praised the depth and progress of bilateral economic relations between the two countries, praising the great efforts made by the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain to develop the flow of investments between the two sides.​

HE Mr. Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Minister of Industry and Commerce, announced the launch of (iFactories) as a national initiative to support the movement of the industrial sector towards the "Fourth Industrial Revolution" by evaluating factories and measuring their level of digital maturity, and enabling them to invest in technology infrastructure and manufacturing automation, which is one of the pillars of the industrial sector's strategy (2022-2026), in partnership with the Labor Fund (Tamkeen), and in the presence of representatives of the industrial sector and Ministry officials.

Mr. Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro valued the government's keen interest in developing the industrial sector to strengthen national industries and increase their efficiency and global competitiveness.

His Excellency also added that the launch of this initiative, in strategic partnership with (Tamkeen), aims to transform 300 factories into smart factories by the year 2026, by adopting the best regional and global practices in managing production lines to ensure the sustainability of the industrial sector's resources, raise its productivity, increase its efficiency, and reduce dependence on unskilled manpower, and transfer them towards automation and modern technologies, in order to create promising qualitative job opportunities for citizens.
 

For her part, Tamkeen CEO. Maha Mufeez confirmed that this partnership achieves Tamkeen's goals in making the private sector the main engine of economic growth in the Kingdom of Bahrain, in addition to making Bahrainis the ideal choice for employment in the labor market.

Mufeez also explained that Tamkeen's role in this initiative is to be a competitive accelerator that aims to finance automation and digitization projects through financial grants of up to 50% to factories that seek to adopt the technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in addition to qualifying and training 20 Bahrainis to obtain accreditation from “Insight", making them the first batch of globally accredited evaluators to measure factories' readiness for digital transformation and assess their digital maturity.
 

During the event, Dr. Khaled Fahad Al Alawi gave a brief presentation on the basis of (ifactories), indicating that it will be based on the (SIRI) index, the latest international standard for evaluating factories in terms of applying the practices and tools of the Fourth Industrial Revolution.

Al-Alawi pointed out that the factory transformation process is summarized in 4 steps, starting with the evaluation stage, where the Ministry will provide advisory and technical support to conduct self-evaluation, followed by the actual evaluation by accredited evaluators, which will move the factory to the design stage, to develop a digital transformation plan, which is considered the basis for the empowerment stage. Through which the factory will be able to obtain support and incentives, ending with the development phase, where the Ministry will, through its tools, monitor the transformation process through performance monitoring tools and measure its indicators.

Al-Alawi invited those wishing to join the initiative to start self-assessment by viewing the evaluation guide on the Ministry's website, or by communicating directly with specialists in Industrial affairs in the Ministry to benefit from the initiative.

HE Mr. Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Minister of Industry and Commerce, affirmed that national efforts are continuing within a comprehensive vision and clear strategy towards the development of youth, by implementing a series of successive achievements in many fields of development.

This came during the closing ceremony of the third edition of the "Young Tech Entrepreneur" program, one of the digital youth initiatives, held under the patronage of HE Mr. Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Minister of Industry and Commerce, in the presence of Mr. Ahmed Bu Hazaa, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Tech Entrepreneur Program, and a number of participants and entrepreneurs.

On this occasion, His Excellency explained that sponsoring and supporting this pioneering program comes within the framework of the government's directives for the Kingdom of Bahrain to be a regional platform for technologies in the Middle East, and to invest in Bahraini youth in a way that enhances sustainable development, praising the innovative projects implemented by the participating youth in the program's 3 editions, with the follow-up of a number of specialists and experts in this field.

His Excellency added that the Technical Entrepreneur Program has provided economic and technical opportunities for Bahraini youth participants, to help them invest their ideas and achieve their ambitions in sustainable entrepreneurship .

The Minister also announced the launch of the Digital Youth Initiative (Shabab Tech), which provides participants in the program with continuous support to develop their projects.

Moreover, His Excellency toured the program's exhibition, and was briefed on all the projects designed by the participating youth.

For his part, Mr. Ahmed Bu Hazaa, Chairman of the Organizing Committee of the Program, expressed his appreciation to the Minister of Industry and Commerce for sponsoring the Program, noting the role of partners from government and private institutions in supporting and developing the Program as well.

The Young Technical Entrepreneur Program seeks to provide entrepreneurship knowledge and experience, by utilizing modern technologies. The current edition features projects by 20 young people between the ages of 17 and 23, university students and novice entrepreneurs, with the participation of 15 industrial, commercial, and financial institutions specialized in fintech and artificial intelligence. The program provides young participants with entrepreneurial skills and gave them the opportunity to learn from successful pioneers and businessmen, by organizing visits to incubating institutions to explore business opportunities in the digital field, in addition to workshops and lectures in project management, artificial intelligence, cybersecurity, tech, and cloud computing.

HE Mr. Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Minister of Industry and Commerce, received in his office the Consul General of Ethiopia to the Kingdom of Bahrain, Mr. Shiferaw Geneti.

The Minister welcomed His Excellency the Consul General and noted the importance of mutual visits and joint economic activities in strengthening bilateral relations.

For his part, the Ethiopian Consul General affirmed his keenness to increase the scope of bilateral cooperation in the best interest of both countries and their people.

HE Mr. Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Minister of Industry and Commerce received in his office the Special Representative of the European Union for the Gulf Region HE Luigi Di Maio, where they reviewed the bilateral relations between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the European Union, and ways to enhance cooperation mechanisms between them in all fields.​

HE the Minister praised the cooperation between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the European Union and their aim strengthen ties to achieve common goals and aspirations, expressing his sincere wishes to the EU Special Representative for the Gulf Region for success in his duties, and affirming the Ministry's commitment to provide all means of developing joint relations, especially in the fields of trade and economy.

H.E. Mr. Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro Minister of Industry and Commerce received in his office at the ministry today, German Ambassador to Bahrain Clemens Hach, where they discussed topics of common interest.​

H.E. the Minister praised the depth and progress of relations between Bahrain and Germany, noting the keenness to support joint cooperation, especially in the commercial and economic sectors, noting the importance of such visits in strengthening bilateral ties and enhancing economic cooperation and volume of investments.

H.E. Mr. Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Minister of Industry and Commerce, praised the fruitful partnership between the public and private sectors, noting the role of Bahrain Society for Training and Development in providing training opportunities for young people and developing their professional skills.

This came during a meeting between H.E. Mr. Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Minister of Industry and Commerce, and the Chairman of Bahrain Society for Training & Development Dr. Ahmed Al-Banna, in the presence of a number of the Society's Board members.​

The Minister confirmed that the government is proud of the Bahraini private sector's bids and considers it a key partner in the growth of the national economy in general and the development of human assets in particular, affirming the government's continuous efforts in cooperation with concerned authorities to provide more support for training and qualifying individuals, which ultimately contributes to achieving an important part of Bahrain's Economic Vision 2030.