Foreign Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, along with his delegation, will visit Islamabad from February 5 to February 6, 2017, to participate in the inaugural session of the Pakistan-Bahrain Joint Ministerial Commission. Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz will co-chair the 1st JMC session on Pakistan’s side.
Besides the JMC, a one-on-one meeting and delegation-level talks to review the bilateral relations and regional issues are also included in the visit program. This is the second meeting between Sartaj Aziz and Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmed in less than two months. They had last interacted on the sidelines of the 12th Manama Dialogue in December 2016, in Bahrain.
During his stay in Pakistan, Khalid Bin Ahmad will also pay courtesy calls on the President and Prime Minister of Pakistan. He will also be given a presentation about the scope of and future prospects of the CPEC. A number of MoUs are likely to be signed after the conclusion of the JMC.
The JMC is being held as the two sides agreed to upgrade the frame of Pak-Bahrain Joint Economic Committee established since 1983 to the ministerial level. An MoU to this effect was signed during the visit of King of Bahrain in March 2014.
During the inaugural session of the JMC, both sides will hold expert level talks, particularly focusing on commerce, investment, energy, defence, export of manpower, agriculture, higher education and other areas of mutual interest.