.jpg?20260303')
DUBAI: Bahrain is in advanced talks for investment deals with cloud computing companies from the US, China and the UAE, an Economic Development Board (EDB) executive told Reuters, as the country seeks to diversify its oil-based economy.
Cloud computing and foreign direct investment are key planks of Bahrain’s economic recovery programme that aims to grow non-oil gross domestic product by five per cent this year and includes $30 billion in strategic projects.
The plans come as regional economic heavyweights Saudi Arabia and the UAE are also banking on technology to diversify their oil-dependent economies.
Saudi Aramco Development Company, a subsidiary of oil behemoth Aramco, has teamed up with Google Cloud to offer cloud services to customers in Saudi Arabia. The UAE is opening three Amazon Web Services (AWS) centres this year.
Bahrain, which since 2018 has hosted a large AWS centre – the first in the Middle East, has introduced a “data embassy law”, the first of its kind in the region. It allows countries to store data in the country but under their jurisdiction, Ali Al Mudaifa, EDB chief investment officer, told Reuters.
EDB is also in talks for a sugar refinery, management consultancy and UK insurance firms to set up shop in the kingdom. It is also in talks for FDI deals with Israel, which are expected to be announced “soon”, he said.
&uuid=(email))