New Delhi: TheKing of Bahrain Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on Tuesday arrived in the national capital.
Al Khalifa is on a state visit to India from February 18 to February 20 at the invitation of President Pranab Mukherjee.
During his first visit to India, Al Khalifa will meet President and Vice President of India and will hold delegation-level discussions with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on bilateral, regional and global issues.
India and Bahrain have close and friendly relations, characterised by shared interests, mutual trust and unique people-to-people contacts. Bahrain is an important trading partner for India with our non-oil bilateral trade in 2012-13 exceeding US$ 1.3 billion.
Over 350,000 Indian nationals work and contribute to the development of Bahrain. Their positive and well-appreciated contribution in the development of Bahrain has been an important pillar of our excellent bilateral engagement. The visit is expected to provide fresh impetus to our bilateral ties.
India has vital stakes in the Gulf and the Middle East region which hosts around 7 million Indians. The region is the source of roughly two-third of India`s crude oil requirements and is the largest trading region for us accounting for over 26% of our global trade.
