Zahra Habib
The Ministry of Finance and National Economy confirmed that the volume of non -oil trade exchange between Bahrain and Korea amounted to about 172.5 million dinars in 2024, as Bahrain exports amounted to 100.7 million dinars, while imports recorded 71.8 million dinars.
She said that the Kingdom of Bahrain has now concluded 40 agreements to encourage and protect investment with many countries, including the People’s Republic of China, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Germany, France, Singapore and Russia.
She stated that Bahrain concluded this agreement in the context of seeking to enhance relations with the countries of the world in the financial and economic fields, and to provide the appropriate environment to attract direct foreign investments and encourage joint investments.
This came during its response to the Foreign Affairs, Defense and National Security Committee regarding a draft law to ratify an agreement to encourage and protect investment between the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the government of the Republic of Korea.
The Ministry affirmed its agreement with what was stated in the draft law, and that it recommends approval, as this agreement aims to make the Kingdom of Bahrain the perfect choice to attract direct foreign investments in order to create promising opportunities for citizens, enhance economic growth and achieve sustainable development, and the Legislative and Legal Opinion Authority, in its note attached to the draft law, stated that the approval of the agreement between the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the government of the Republic of Korea To encourage and protect investment, it comes with the aim of creating the appropriate conditions for intensifying the investment activity of the investors of each contracting party in the region of the other contracting party on the basis of the principle of equality and mutual benefit, which helps to stimulate individual commercial initiatives and increase prosperity in both countries.
This agreement comes to provide an appropriate investment environment to intensify the investment activity by investors in both contracted parties by creating stable, fair, favorable and transparent conditions for the investors of the two contracting parties in the other contracting party, on the basis of the principles of equality and joint benefit by encouraging and protecting the investments of citizens and companies of one of the contracting parties in the other contracted party.
The agreement aims to provide the necessary guarantees to protect investments and the freedom to transfer capital, profits and other returns in a free currency that can be transferred to investors from the two contracting parties, and to ensure the investor compensation is a fair and immediate compensation for its investment, in the event of confiscation of ownership for the public interest, and that the compensation according to the market value of the investment. And to determine the mechanisms for settling disputes that may arise between a party and an investor from the other contracting party, or those that may arise between the two contracting parties, starting with a friendly solution, and then resorting to local courts and international arbitration if necessary.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs pointed out that the level of diplomatic representation between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Republic of Korea is at the level of the heads of missions, where Ambassador Saud Hassan Al -Nasf was approved as the first ambassador to the Kingdom of Bahrain to the Republic of Korea in the year 2024, and in return, the head of the Korean Republic’s Mission to the Kingdom of Bahrain is Ambassador Hunsang Ko, adding that the representative of the Economic Development Board in Seoul is Mr. Joape Jear Kam, where investment issues between the two countries are under his jurisdiction.
For its part, the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry supported the agreement, stressing that such agreements contribute to strengthening the movement of foreign investments, especially since the agreement does not give the contracting countries unjustified preferential privileges, or contradicts the principles of international investment, which is in line with the Kingdom of Bahrain’s tendency towards strengthening its economic position at the global level.
The Shura Council is scheduled to vote on a draft law to ratify an agreement to encourage and protect investment between the government of the Kingdom of Bahrain and the government of the Republic of Korea.
