Moscow, Manama Mull Creating Grain and Gas Hubs in Bahrain, Russian Ambassador Says
© AP Photo / Hasan Jamali
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DOHA (Sputnik) - Russia and Bahrain are considering proposals for the creation of grain and gas hubs, as well as a plant for the production of Russian vaccines in the Middle Eastern country, Russian Ambassador to Manama Alexey Skosyrev told Sputnik.
"Interested authorized agencies of Russia and Bahrain continue to study proposals for the implementation of a number of major flagship projects. These include the project of a grain hub, a gas hub and a plant for the production of Russian vaccines," the ambassador said.
A possibility of creating a grain hub in Bahrain was discussed in the Russian Ministry of Industry and Trade four years ago, but the project was never implemented.
2 January 2023, 21:21 GMT
On Cancel Culture
Speaking about the cancel culture against everything Russian now, Skosyrev stressed that there have been no changes in the Russian-Bahraini relations since the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine.
30 November 2022, 13:27 GMT
"We appreciate the measured, balanced position of Manama to the crisis in Ukraine, we express our gratitude to the Bahraini leadership for its readiness to assist the political and diplomatic process in case such a need arises, we warmly support the call of the authorities of the kingdom not to allow the media to be used to escalate the situation and promote hatred," the ambassador said.
He added: "If we speak about the infamous cancel culture against everything Russian, which was done in the West, then there are no conditions and prerequisites for this. On the contrary, interest in our culture and communication with Russians is steadily growing. For example, we constantly receive requests for studies in Russia, learning the Russian language, planned cultural events of various kinds."
Working Out Meeting Between Putin, Bahraini King
The diplomat also revealed that Moscow and Manama are working out the possibility of holding a meeting between King of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"The possibility of holding a summit meeting is being considered, but agreements on its modalities — time and place — have not been reached yet," Skosyrev said.
The Russian envoy said that the leadership of both countries assesses the state of bilateral relations as positive.
"We maintain a confidential dialogue on a wide range of issues, including a number of general principles of the world order, our views are close or coincide. For us, as we have repeatedly stressed at all levels, Bahrain is an important partner in the Arab-Muslim world; special attention is also paid to interaction with Russia in Manama. As for the economic component of our relations, their potential in this area is far from being fully realized, and trade indicators do not yet correspond to our aspirations. However, this does not mean that interest in mutually beneficial cooperation has waned. We intend to make every effort to achieve a significant increase in trade. To this end, together with our Bahraini partners, we are working on further improving the legal framework of Russian-Bahraini relations and expanding the network of contacts between business representatives, preparing the appropriate logistics and financial infrastructure," he said.
The diplomat stressed that the coronavirus pandemic and illegal Western sanctions against Russia had a deterrent effect on the development of trade, economic and investment cooperation between our countries, "but they can only somewhat slow down the process of strengthening our ties, not reverse it."
Moreover, Russia encourages Bahrain's participation in the multilateral dialogue, in particular, Moscow welcomed Bahrain joining the SCO as a dialogue partner and supports Manama's interest in participating in BRICS projects, among others, he noted.
Meanwhile, the diplomat also said that the two countries are working to intensify interaction between credit institutions of the two countries.
"This issue is being discussed not only with the Bahraini partners, but in general with all the Gulf States, whose financial systems a high degree of mutual integration. Undoubtedly, the establishment of long-term cooperation between the financial structures of Russia and Bahrain will have a positive impact on trade and economic relations with Manama and will contribute to the growth of mutual trade. We are talking about a set of areas that need to be developed: this is the establishment of corresponding relations between the banks of our states, and ensuring the functioning of MIR cards in the kingdom, and the use of national currencies in trade. We expect that we will soon reach concrete results," Skosyrev told Sputnik.
In December 2021, a delegation of the upper house of the Russian parliament headed by its chairwoman Valentina Matviyenko visited Bahrain. Following the visit, Matviyenko said that Hamad was waiting for Putin's visit and also seeking to visit Moscow. The last time the leaders of the two countries met in person was in 2016 during the visit of the Bahraini king to Russia.
