A high-powered business delegation from Japan visited the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) yesterday to introduce the latest products and technologies in the field of renewable energy.

The delegation, representing Japan Co-operation Centre for the Middle East (JCCME), also highlighted energy efficiency improvement technologies.

JCCME is an independent, non-profit foundation authorised and supervised by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.

The objective of JCCME is to contribute to the promotion of Japan's trade and economic and technical co-operation with the Middle East countries, with a view to furthering their economic development.

"Introducing advanced Japanese products and technologies in the fields of renewable energy and energy efficiency improvement in Bahrain, is an obvious demonstration of the vigour and determination of our two countries in attaining higher levels of co-operation on technological advancement and environmental sustainability," Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Hassan Fakhro said.

"I would like to thank the organisers of this event - the Japanese Embassy, JCCME, BCCI and the Bahrain-Japan Business and Friendship Society.

"The scientific and business topics of this seminar and its high-tech and innovative prospects coincide appropriately with the ambitious objectives of Bahrain Economic Vision 2030, of attaining knowledge-based economy, enhanced innovation, productivity, competitiveness, sustainability and fairness.

"The relevance of this seminar to Bahrain's economic development and future energy requirements cannot be overemphasised," he said.

"While Bahrain's pioneering role is duly recognised for being one of the first oil exploration countries in the region, and it had first exported to Japan in 1934, it was imperative for the kingdom to resort to diversification of its economy and industrial development.

"Accordingly, we started focusing on the creation of higher value-added industries, which support higher paid and higher skilled employment. We were also determined to move to clustering industries around a number of core competencies and strategic advantages, targeting higher quality standards, innovation and international competitiveness.

"It is our duty, at the ministry, to try to guide industry in the right direction through a number of policy initiatives, and by establishing the right level of supporting infrastructure," he added.

Dr Fakhro said the Bahrain International Investment Park at Salman Industrial City is one such project, which the ministry has developed on 640 hectares of land, providing physical and logistics infrastructure, which is designed to maximise clustering and downstream industries.

"We also aspire to build an industrial economic city in due course, coupled with such industrial diversification and infrastructure upgrading," he said.

"The government strives to keep Bahrain as the Middle East's freest economy, with access to the larger markets of the region and a direct road link to Saudi Arabia and beyond, and hopefully the proposed new road and rail linkage will join up the whole of the GCC.

"The Bahrain-US free trade agreement also makes the kingdom the most opportune launch gateway in the region for investments in manufacturing logistics and services," he added.-TradeArabia News Service