May 7, 2009
Bahrain invites Charoen Pokphand for business ventures
Bahrain has approached Thailand''s Charoen Pokphand Group (CP) to invest in the country''s agricultural businesses as a bid to improve its position as the "food hub" for the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC).
Nestled at the centre of the GCC''s six oil-rich states, Bahrain has an efficient logistics network that could enable the island state become the region''s core food distributor, says Nabeel Al Tattan, executive vice-president and head of Middle East and North Africa investments for Al Salam Bank.
Bahrain is also seeking to establish production points within the country and other the GCC states to serve its food security needs, he said.
Al Salam Bank has invited the Thai conglomerate for potential partnership opportunities in agricultural production ???????? including livestock - to serve Bahrain and the GCC states, which have a population of 36 million and include Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Thailand exported about 4.3 billion baht worth of food including animal products to GCC nations in 2007.
Thailand, along with other nations in Southeast Asia, is also considering is also considering a feasibility study on free trade agreements with GCC due to the latter''s strong market opportunities.
Bahrain has offered different types of partnerships, such as joint ventures, foreign-owned investment, or a build-operate transfer format, a source said.
Recent bilateral talks have yielded positive results with CP planning to send a delegation to Bahrain to discuss investment opportunities, led by CP Group president and CEO Adirek Sripratak.
CP Group has also been approached by the Philippine government to invest in agriculture and related businesses in the Philippines. CP has also major investments in China, Indonesia, India and has recently invested in Russia''s livestock sector.