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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.

Qatar’s ambassador to Bahrain Sultan Ali Yousef Mohammed Al-Khater presented his credentials to Bahrain’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa further cementing the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

In late July, just as the UAE was wrapping up several of its latest bilateral free trade deals, a GCC delegation was in Ankara from 29-31 July for the first round of discussions on a free trade deal with Türkiye.  That was soon followed on 1 August by the official launch of negotiations on a free trade agreement between the GCC and Indonesia.

Bahrain’s ambassador Mohammed Al-Ghatam presented his credentials to Qatar’s minister of state for foreign affairs Soltan Bin Saad Al-Muraikhi in Doha on 28 July.

A rare by-election is being held in early September, following a court ruling to strip Mohammed Al-Hussaini of his seat in the Council of Representatives because he held citizenship of a second country.

Bahraini national security advisor gave fulsome backing to the four-year-old Abraham Accords, saying “We would encourage others to join”, while speaking at the Aspen Security Forum in the United States.

The Court of Cassation annulled Mohammed Rafiq Al-Hussaini’s membership of the Council of Representatives on 10 July, following claims by the government that he held citizenship of a second, unnamed country