He said Bahrain had rolled out a raft of reforms in the wake of criticism of its crackdown on protesters last year but now needed to prove it could put them into practice.

The king said his country had made significant progress in reforming its security sector, judiciary, social policy and media.

“The doors of dialogue are always open,” the king said. “We want our people to feel and see the differences these changes have on their lives. The challenge of the coming months will be to translate these into tangible, cultural changes.”

The progress report said the kingdom had agreed to a new police code of conduct, allowed the Red Cross to inspect detention center and set up a body to investigate accusations that government employees killed or mistreated citizens.