India-Bahrain High Joint Commission meeting

On March 31, 2021 The meeting of the India-Bahrain High Joint Commission (HJC) which is a Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) was held in virtual mode. Both sides highlighted their strong bilateral ties spanning a wide range of areas and which was also reflected in the excellent cooperation between the two countries in handling Covid-19 situation.

Both sides also reviewed their cooperation in different areas, including oil and gas, trade and investment, defence and security, food security, healthcare, renewable energy, space, IT, human resource, education and culture.

The third India-Bahrain High Joint Commission will be held in New Delhi on April 7, 2021. The meeting will be co-chaired by Dr. S. Jaishankar, Minister of External Affairs of India and H.E. Dr. Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Bahrain.

Bahrain’s leadership has already appreciated the contribution of the Indian community to the development of the kingdom and the assistance provided by India during the Covid pandemic through the supply of medicines, medical equipment and medical professionals.

Both the countries have also expressed satisfaction on the operationalisation of Air Bubble arrangement between them.

India Bahrain relations :

India and Bahrain enjoy excellent bilateral relations characterized by cordial political, economic and cultural contacts. Our bilateral Trade and commercial exchanges go back to about 5,000 years ago tracing their origins to the period of Dilmun Civilization in Bahrain to the era of Indus valley civilization in India. Presence of atleast 3 lakhs 50 thousands indian nationals who comprise a third of Bahrain's total population of 1.4 million is an important pillar of the bilateral relations between India and Bahrain.

The current annual bilateral trade between India and Bahrain is 753.60 million dollars.