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The Higher Authority for Hawar Islands Development replaces a committee set up in 2017 to develop tourism infrastructure on the island – which was previously the subject of a territorial dispute with Qatar. It comes as the islands’ first major hotel development is due to welcome its first guests.
London has been bolstering its defence ties with a number of Gulf countries in early December, during high-level talks with leaders of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
King Charles III’s younger brother is stepping up to promote the United Kingdom’s interests in the region, visiting Manama and Kuwait City in mid-December, after welcoming the Qatari emir to London earlier in the month.
Sheikh Khalid Bin Mohammed Al-Nahyan visit to Bahrain followed trips to India, Qatar, Norway, Singapore and Brazil in the previous two months. Soon after his visit, Abu Dhabi wrapped up a deal to buy the McLaren luxury car business from Bahrain.
The Bahraini national security adviser has been appointed by his father King Hamad to a little-known but powerful body that deals with internal disputes and other issues within the ruling Al-Khalifa family.
The dramatic end to Bashir Al-Assad’s rule has created another crisis for Iran’s regional strategy and is an unnerving moment for Gulf monarchies which, in the name of ‘stability’, had been rebuilding ties with a Damascus regime that seemed to have survived a decade-plus of civil war. Diplomatic strategies will now have to be hastily redrawn, with an initial focus on ensuring Syria does not slide further into turmoil.
Sheikh Abdullah Bin Ahmed Bin Abdullah Al-Khalifa has taken over as transport and telecoms minister from Mohammed Al-Kaabi, while the social development file has passed from Osama Al-Asfoor to Osama Al-Alawi, in a small reshuffle of the Bahraini cabinet.
King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa has emphasised the need to continue pursuing the government’s Economic Vision 2030. At the recent inauguration of the third session of the sixth legislative term of the Shura Council and the Council of Representatives he told the assembled parliamentarians that work should also be “accelerated on its next version for the year 2050.” On the regional front, Bahrain has been continuing to try and improve relations with Tehran. King Hamad hosting Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi for talks at Al-Sakhir Palace on 21 October.
Bahraini sovereign wealth fund Mumtalakat is considering selling luxury sportscar business McLaren Automotive to Abu Dhabi’s CYVN Holdings – adding to the latter’s existing portfolio of stakes in Chinese and British EV companies.
The Brics summit hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin allowed the first meeting between Iran and the UAE since they became full members of the emerging economies’ bloc in January. The conflicts in Gaza and Lebanon were high up the agenda as the Russian city of Kazan hosted an event that allowed emerging economies to show off their potential as an eventual alternative to western economic dominance – and the dollar economy – but above all it allowed Putin to bask in the glow of peer group recognition, ahead of the US election, while his war in Ukraine rages on.
Some 100 political detainees are thought to be among the 340 inmates released from Jau Prison on 23 September, in what is the third major wave of prisoner releases this year.
Bapco Energies has sold a minority stake in the pipeline that brings Saudi crude to the Bahrain Refinery and, in a separate deal, bought out its minority partners to take full control of Bapco Gas.
Crown Prince Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa has made a number of changes to the EDB’s board of directors, bringing in his son and Labour Fund chief Sheikh Isa Bin Salman while letting the king’s economic advisor Hassan Fakhro go.
Abdulwahid Qarata won a run-off vote on 14 September, coming from behind to beat Ibrahim Al-Sheikh who had topped the poll in the first round of voting a week earlier.
King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa pardoned 457 inmates by royal decree on 4 September, to mark his silver jubilee on the throne.
