The American Chamber of Commerce Bahrain (AmCham Bahrain), hosts of this year's AmCham MENA Regional Council's Annual Forum, confirmed Saturday that a number of large US business delegations and high ranking government officials are set to attend the Forum which is set to take place in the Kingdom of Bahrain on March 15-16, 2017. The Forum, which aims to promote the expansion of trade and investment between the markets of the MENA region and the US, will this year focus on SMEs: Unlocking Economic Potential in the MENA Region, and will be significantly enhanced by the presence of major US business leaders across key sectors to include financial services, industry, technology, retail, hospitality, F&B, real estate and many others. Among the major US companies to be represented include Mondelez, Olayan Kimberly-Clark, General Electric, Microsoft, TransCentury, USG Boral, Citi. Also in attendance will be high ranking US government officials including the America's top representative for the region Ambassador Stuart E. Jones, Acting US Assistant Secretary at the Bureau for Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department in Washington DC, who will be a keynote speaker. Also present will be the US Ambassador to Bahrain, the Honourable William Roebuck, high ranking US Chamber of Commerce executives and other US government representatives based across the MENA region. In total more than 300 participants are expected. In addition to representatives from the US and MENA governments, there will be a host of leaders from multilateral financing institutions supporting SME development in the region, as well as key players from the regional SME and entrepreneurship scene. From the private sector, the event will feature representation from MENA Council member AmChams of Abu Dhabi-UAE, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine and Tunisia, in addition to representatives from other regional US Business Councils. and a broad range of international and regional business associations. With key decision makers and business leaders on hand, the Forum aims to prioritize the delivery of tangible results for attending companies including helping them to connect directly with potential partners, investors and clients and more swiftly scale up for international investment, trade and business engagement through a series of focused strategy discussions, B2B matchmaking and workshops. Supporting the Forum from the Kingdom of Bahrain, whose economy will also be in the spotlight, is Strategic Forum Partner, the Bahrain Economic Development (EDB), in addition to Tamkeen, the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) and the Ministry of Industry, Commerce & Tourism. Also central to the planning and success of the event is the cooperation being received from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the MENA Council Secretariat at AmCham Egypt. — SG
