Bahrain has embarked on an ambitious programme to ensure that its economy is capable of delivering the economic aspirations of the people, said Shaikh Mohammed bin Essa Al Khalifa, the chief executive of Economic Development Board.

“The main thrust of our programme is to make the private sector the main engine of growth in the economy. This is where the FTA starts to play a role,” he said.
"We will achieve this by focusing on three broad pillars. The first is stimulating the private sector to take on leading role in the economy.
"We are doing this by addressing the obstacles to growth in private sectors with specific initiatives to address them.
"These initiatives include: an access to capital initiative for SME’s; access to land – that will aim to plan and zone all areas of Bahrain giving investors confidence that their project is part of a comprehensive plan that will receive full government support and infrastructure.
"Another initiative recently concluded by the Ministry of Industry and Commerce is the simplification of business start up procedures, which has greatly reduced the number of steps involved in setting up a business in Bahrain.
"All these steps are part of the effort of moving the mindest from Red Tape to Red Carpet,” said Shaikh Mohammed.
The second broad pillar Bahrain is working on is changing the role of government from an operator to a regulator.
The government has already privatised a good number of sectors, with more on the way. Government will focus on policy and regulation and leave the operations to the private sector.
In power generation for example, 75 per cent of the sector is in the hands of the private investors, he said.
“The third area of focus is one of particular importance and it is investing in the areas that has and will generate Bahrain’s true wealth and competitive edge, and that is education and training of the people of Bahrain. We are investing to give Bahrainis the tools they need to be more productive in the economy,” he said.