H.E. Mr. Zayed R. Alzayani, Minister of Industry and Commerce stressed the depth of historical relations and close strategic partnership between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the UK, noting the importance of continuing the development of bilateral relations between the two countries at various levels, most importantly economics and investments, and pushing joint cooperation towards prospects that provide promising sectors that contribute to the promotion of economic growth and support all development paths towards achieving desired results, in a way that serves the best interest of both countries.

This came during His Excellency's participation in the opening session of the Second Arab-British Economic Summit 2022, held at the Queen Elizabeth II Center in London under the theme "Shaping a Common Vision", organized by the Arab-British Chamber of Commerce, with the participation of government officials, senior executives, leaders and decision makers from across the UK and the Arab world, to discuss diverse trade and investment opportunities, especially those that keep pace with emerging technology-based industries In the presence of His Excellency Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the United Kingdom .

During his speech, Alzayani noted that Bahrain and UK have deep-rooted 200-year-old relations, which resulted in the growth of trade between the two countries, in addition to the signing of various cooperation agreements and memorandums of understanding that will enhance bilateral commerce and increase the volume of investments.

HE also expressed Bahrain's keenness to raise the levels of global trade exchange and support the foundations and advantages provided by the FTA between Britain and the GCC, which contribute to raising the levels of trade, investment, and development exchange between the two sides.​
 

Alzayani added that the FTA is an ambitious, comprehensive and modern agreement commensurate with the 21st century, and will support economic growth and provide more opportunities through promoting trade in goods and services, as well as innovative new fields and emerging technologies for the mutual benefit of all parties.

H.E. noted that Dr. Nayef Falah Mubarak Al-Hajraf, Secretary-General of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), and British Secretary of State for International trade, Anne-Marie Trevelyan, signed the launch of the FTA negotiations between the GCC and the UK and Northern Ireland on June 22, 2022 at the headquarters of the General Secretariat in Riyadh, in the presence of their Excellencies GCC Ministers of Commerce, in a plan to move forward towards strengthening strategic relations.

In the conclusion of his speech, H.E. stated that the first round of negotiations aims to explore the views of the Gulf and British sides on the topics in negotiations' terms of reference, in preparation for the drafting of the legal texts of the agreement and the start of discussions, as the first round was held from 22 to 25 August 2022, led by H.E. Ms. Eman Ahmed Al-Doseri, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and Acting Chairman of the Gulf Negotiations Group.

The Arab-British Economic Summit in its second edition dealt with many important topics, including highlighting important issues, most notably the FTA, ways to promote Arab-British trade and investment, renewable energy, investment in health technology, the technological revolution in the education sector, financial technology and the promotion of digital cooperation and other important topics.