Bahrain to encourage private sector in defence production

Bahrain is opening up the defence sector for the private investors as part of the leadership’s vision and strategy to take the production of defence industry to the next level of excellence, said a senior Bahraini official.

This was the crux of the media talk by National Security Advisor and Commander of the Royal Guard Major General Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa on the sidelines of the second day of the Bahrain International Defence Exhibition and Conference (Bidec 2019), said the Bahrain News Agency (BNA) report.

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Shaikh Nasser, speaking on Bahrain’s Armour Personnel Carrier (APC) production, said:

“We will encourage this industry; we will encourage our investors from the private sector and we are putting the right structure for this industry and, God willing, as per the directives of HM King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, we will go forward and see a local role in defence production.”

Bahrain, which has produced the first indigenous armed APC ‘Faisal’ currently displayed at the Bidec 2019, has generated a lot of interest from the regional and GCC delegates at the show.

“The private sector has expressed readiness, enthusiasm and seriousness to invest in this sector and this will open a new era for the defence production in Bahrain,” said Major General Shaikh Nasser, who is also Head of the Supreme Organising Committee of Bidec 2019.

“We want initially to find the necessary and most appropriate mechanism and thereafter find the best and most suitable partner,” he said, adding that do need private sector partnership that will assist us in this sector.