FDI Intelligence, a division of The Financial Times Ltd publishes these rankings every two years.
Dr Fakhro said that he was particularly pleased to see that the Bahrain International Investment Park at Salman Industrial City was ranked as number one location for investment in Bahrain; seventh location for investment in the Middle East and the fifteenth location for investment in the World.
The 2.5 million square meters manufacturing and international services park was established by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce in 2005 and today it is the Middle East home to some of the world’s leading companies and already employs over 2,000 people. Amongst the top global companies to establish new manufacturing plants here at the Park are Kraft Foods from USA; German names BASF and SIEMENS Germany and MTQ Singapore.
A total of 36 companies from Bahrain, USA, Canada, Germany, France, UK, Singapore, India, Canada, Australia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia have already commenced operations here.
They manufacture products such as processed cheese, polymer additives, air-conditioning systems, fibreglass products, personal care products, chocolate confectionery, waterproof membranes, engineered components for the oil and gas industry, security printing and flexible packaging.
A further 43 new projects are currently being developed at the Park with 19 of them already under construction.
When the Park is completed, the total investment in new projects will be $1.1billion and these projects will have the potential to employ 12,000 people.
Dr. Fakhro stressed the important role that the Park already plays in the overall development of the Bahraini economy particularly provision of quality jobs for Bahrainis; contribution to growth in exports and introduction of new technologies and the development of centres of excellence in polymer technologies, fiberglass manufacturing and engineering support for the oil and gas industries.
Dr. Fakhro also welcomed the recognition this year of 2 key components of Bahrain’s infrastructure, namely Bahrain International Airport and Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Port who were both ranked in the top 20.
He highlighted the very important role that they both play in the attraction to Bahrain of new Foreign Direct Investment.
Dr. Fakhro confirmed that he looked forward to welcoming some major new global companies to the Bahrain International Investment Park in 2012 and 2013, and that these new investments will have the effect of moving the Park to an even higher rating in 2014