Foreign investors setting up manufacturing operations in Bahrain companies will receive duty-free access to the US market.

At the recently held Arab-Asia Business Partnership Summit on the 9-12 December in Manama, authorities said that under the Under the Fair Trade Agreement (FTA), signed in 2006, Bahrain can offer attractive incentives in return for a guaranteed 35 per cent of domestic content from respective firms.

The American Chamber of Commerce Bahrain, who organised the conference, is an independent, private, non-profit, business association. It was formed in 2006 to capitalise on what was a newly implemented trade agreement between the US and Bahrain.

The FTA aims to allow Bahraini suppliers of goods to be more competitive in the US market.

The chamber’s president Qays Hatim Zubi said that while the FTA has improved trade relations between the US and Bahrain, the agreement can be better utilised by more companies, especially small and medium organisations.

“We are now looking to raise awareness and help SMEs better understand the process for using the FTA by connecting them to available resources both in Bahrain and the US,” he said.

So far this year US-Bahrain trade amounted to $1.6bn as opposed to approximately $750m in 2005 before the FTA was signed.