UNITED ARAB EMIRATES-FARM INVESTMENT.
The investment is a bid to improve its position as the ’food hub’ for the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) nations. Located at the centre of the GCC’s six oil-rich states, the island state has an efficient logistics network that could enable Bahrain to become the region’s core food distributor, says Nabeel Al Tattan, executive vice-president and head of Middle East and North Africa investments for Al Salam Bank.
In addition, Bahrain, he says, is seeking to establish production points within the country and other the GCC states to serve its food security needs.
Al Salam Bank contacted CP Group to consider potential partnership opportunities in agricultural production – including livestock - to serve Bahrain and the GCC states, which have a population of 36 million and include Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.
Thailand exported about 4.3 billion baht worth of food including animal products to GCC nations in 2007.
The GCC’s emerging markets present Thailand with strong trade opportunities. Asean is also considering a feasibility study on free trade agreements with GCC.
Bahrain has offered different types of partnerships, such as joint ventures, foreign-own investment, or a build-operate transfer format, a source said.
Recent bilateral talks have yielded positive results with CP planning to send a delegation to Bahrain to discuss investment opportunities, led by CP Group president and CEO Adirek Sripratak.
CP Group has also been approached by the Philippine government to invest in agriculture and related businesses in the Philippines. CP among Thailand’s leading agribusiness conglomerates has major investments in many foreign countries, i.e; China, Indonesia, India and has recently invested in Russia’s livestock sector.