WASHINGTON, 29 May 2004 — Bahrain has become the fourth country in the Middle East to negotiate a free-trade pact with the United States. The accord is the third US Free Trade Agreement with an Arab country — after Jordan and Morocco - and the first in the Gulf region. Israel is also a member. The pact will be signed in Washington on June 11.
“Bahrain’s leaders... are reformers in a region searching for fresh winds of new ideas, and the US-Bahrain free-trade agreement is a pacesetter showing the way to implement the president’s initiative for building prosperity, opportunity and hope in the Middle East,” said US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick.
Zoellick said the agreement with Bahrain opened up new export and investment opportunities for US industries ranging from aircraft and sports equipment to agricultural and financial services.
The US now hopes Bahrain will serve as a model, and help bring about similar accords with other Gulf countries, including Qatar, Kuwait and eventually Saudi Arabia.
President George Bush has proposed a Middle East free trade pact stretching from Morocco to Iran by 2013.
Bahrain’s Finance Minister Abdullah Hasan Al-Saif said the pact would firmly position Bahrain as a gateway to the rest of the Gulf. With a population of 650,000, Bahrain provides “trading access to about 1.3 billion people in the surrounding region,” he said.
The agreement will enhance exports to the US market through both local and foreign investors, Al-Saif said. It will provide duty-free access to all trade in non-textiles industrial goods, all of Bahrain’s agricultural exports and 98 percent of US agricultural exports.
Bahrain has already established itself as the Gulf’s financial and banking hub and a regional tourist destination. Manama hopes the trade pact will attract increased US investment and create more jobs.
Bahrain exported $378 million worth of goods to the United States in 2003, including apparel and clothing accessories, aluminum, fertilizers and organic chemicals.