Mubasher: The second edition of the Gateway Gulf Investment Forum is launching at the Four Seasons Hotel Bahrain Bay on 3-4 November 2024, hosted by the Bahrain Economic Development Board (Bahrain EDB).
The two-day event will kick off with the support of senior government officials from Bahrain’s finance, investment, and industry portfolio to focus on global challenges and trends under the theme ‘Investing in a Rapidly Transforming Region’. The attendees will tackle topics such as investing for resilience, AI’s transformative power, and future-proofing the workforce.
Gateway Gulf 2024 will bring together top 250 ministerial and senior government officials, C-suite business professionals, and executive investors from major markets across America, Europe, Asia, the GCC area, and beyond.
The forum will also host a series of panels, focus meetings, and one-on-one sessions.
High-level Speakers from Bahrain
As Bahrain has a role in driving regional collaboration and co-investments, the Gateway Gulf 2024 forum will witness the attendance of high-level speakers from the Kingdom, including the following:
- Shaikh Salman bin Khalifa Al Khalifa, Minister of Finance and National Economy
- Noor bint Ali Alkhulaif, Minister of Sustainable Development, Chief Executive of Bahrain EDB
- Fatima bint Jaffer Al Sairafi, Minister of Tourism
- Abdulla bin Adel Fakhro, Minister of Industry and Commerce
- Shaikh Ahmed bin Hamad Al Khalifa, President of Customs Affairs
- Khalid Humaidan, Governor of Central Bank of Bahrain
- Khalid Al Rumaihi, Chairman of the listed Aluminium Bahrain (Alba)
- Sheikh Salman bin Isa Al Khalifa, Chief Executive of Bahrain International Circuit (BIC)
Regional and International Speakers
The sessions scheduled to be held during the second edition of Gateway Gulf will feature leading experts in their fields from the region as well as international speakers such as:
- Lord Gerry Grimstone, Former Minister for Investment at Department for International Trade and Department for Business Energy and Industrial Strategy, Member (Chairman Gemcorp Capital)
- From the UAE, Abdullah bin Touq Al Marri, Cabinet Member and Minister of Economy
- Sultan Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO of the DP World
- Sir Jonathan Symonds, Chairman of GSK
- Khalfan Belhoul, CEO of Dubai Future Foundation
- Safra Catz, CEO of Oracle
- Henadi Al Saleh, Chairperson of Agility
- Mark Burns, President of Gulfstream
- Edward Dolman, Executive Chairman and CEO of Phillips
- Keith Svendsen, CEO of APM Terminals
- Jeremy Crane, CEO of Yellow Door Energy
Bahrain is among the most diversified economies in the Gulf area, with the non-oil sector contributing 84% to its GDP in 2023.
Meanwhile, the GCC region in general is emerging as one of the most dynamic economic success stories across the globe, with the Gulf economies projected to grow by 3.50% in 2024 to a combined total of nearly $2.10 trillion and estimated to hit $2.80 trillion by 2030, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
It is worth mentioning that the GCC recently witnessed the Seamless Saudi Arabia leading event, which took place for three days in Riyadh.