Minister of Energy His Excellency Dr. Abdul Hussain bin Ali Mirza met at the National Oil and Gas Authority (NOGA) office on Tuesday 21 April 2015 with a delegation of senior officials from the People’s Republic of China and discussed ways to strengthen cooperation between the two friendly nations through the implementation of proposed cooperation opportunities in both sides.

The Minister welcomed the attendees and expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the business delegation for their visit and wished the delegates a pleasant stay in the Kingdom of Bahrain throughout their visit, wishing they realize their desired goals.

H.E. Dr. Mirza praised the strong relations and close cooperation between the two sides, underlining the importance of benefiting from the large technical expertise and funding opportunities offered by the Chinese companies and institutions in the oil sector.

He said NOGA and its affiliates would be glad to welcome investments in the oil and gas sector and would push forward for more cooperation in the field petroleum and petrochemical industries. The Minister added that such visits contributed to facilitate the necessary concrete measures to realize investment opportunities and cooperation initiatives and programs proposed by both parties.

In turn, the Chinese delegation at the meeting process carried out by the oil and finance Chinese companies after the first visit by the Chinese delegation in January had expressed its aspiration for Chinese companies to participate in the implementation of a set of strategic projects in the Kingdom of Bahrain and to contribute to the implementation of the Refinery modernization project, the A-B pipeline replacement project and the LNG Terminal project, in addition to other oil and petrochemical sector projects.

The Chinese delegation expressed appreciation to the Minister for his enthusiasm in promoting joint investments between the two sides that would contribute to the diversification of income sources in Bahrain. They wished the Minister and NOGA great success in their efforts to develop the oil and gas sector for the benefit of the country and the Kingdom of Bahrain further progress and prosperity.

In order to boost investment and benefit from the financing opportunities offered by the visiting Chinese companies, NOGA, in coordination with the various government authorities in Bahrain promised to hold a series of meetings between the Bahraini officials and the visiting Chinese delegation, including the Economic Development Board, Ministry of Finance, Electricity and Water Authority and the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Bahrain.

It was the second visit to Bahrain by the Chinese delegation, which had earlier visited the Kingdom from January 13 to 15, 2015, and comes in response to a visit by a delegation representing the oil, gas and petrochemical sector in Bahrain to the People’s Republic of China at the end of 2014. The first time, a number of senior officials of the China National Administration of Energy and major oil and gas and petrochemical company officials visited Bahrain under the Sino-Bahraini Joint Committee for Oil and Gas established under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the two countries during the auspicious visit of His Majesty the King of Bahrain to Beijing in September 2014.