A decision to appoint the new board members of the Economic Development Board (EDB) has been issued by Bahrain’s HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, Crown Prince, Deputy Supreme Commander and First Deputy Prime Minister and EDB chairman.

The board includes key personalities from the public and private sectors, reported the Gulf Daily News, our sister publication.

Chaired by the Crown Prince, the new board comprises His Majesty King Hamad's Personal Representative Shaikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa and Supreme Council for Youth and Sports chairman and Bahrain Olympic Committee president Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who is also Royal Charity Organisation chairman and Royal Guard Commander.

The EDB has the responsibility of establishing a development strategy for Bahrain's economy in co-operation with the government, as well as creating the right environment to attract foreign direct investments to the kingdom, to reinforce the economy as well as create more opportunities for the private sector, and job opportunities for Bahrainis.

This is in line with the leadership's vision and national reforms launched by His Majesty.

To achieve this goal, during the last decade, the EDB has addressed some of the important issues which were considered significant challenges, in order to resolve these in co-operation with both the private and public sectors.

Such issues included reform programmes for different sectors, including labour, education, economy and investment.

These efforts resulted in the growth of the Bahrain economy by 70 per cent over the last decade, and the decrease of unemployment levels to less than 4 per cent as well as the doubling of non-hydrocarbon exports and increase in its contribution to the country's GDP. – TradeArabia News Service