Text of the speech delivered by the Minister of Foreign Affairs Shaikh Khalid bin Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Khalifa at the opening of the Ministerial Meeting of the Arab-India Cooperation Forum in Manama: Your Excellency Ms. Sushma Swaraj, Minister of External Affairs and Overseas Indian Affairs of the Republic of India, Your Excellencies the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Arab Countries, Your Excellency the Secretary-General of the Arab League, Dr Nabil Al Arabi, Distinguished participants, Firstly, I am immensely pleased to welcome you all to the Kingdom of Bahrain, which has the honor to host the First Session of the Arab-Indian Cooperation Forum, hoping that the activities of our meeting will be successful and yield decisions capable of contributing to the reinforcement of joint cooperation among us in all fields. In this context, I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to the General Secretariat of the Arab League, spearheaded by His Excellency the Secretary-General, and colleagues at the General Secretariat for the arrangements for this important historic meeting. Our thanks and appreciation also go to the senior officials of the Arab and Indian sides for the great efforts they exerted in the drafting of the essential documents of this meeting. Thanks and appreciation are also extended to the panel of the Arab and Indian experts who have met in New Delhi, and prepared a vision of the future Arab-Indian relations, which we hope this meeting will contribute to boosting bilateral cooperation ties between the two sides to broader horizons. Ladies and Gentlemen, The archeological, social and historical testimonies affirm the ongoing interaction between Arab and Indian civilizations, and the age-old and deep-rooted ties between the Arab states and India. The present affirms the strong and outstanding relations of friendship and cooperation between the two sides, and the future promises further bolstering, backing and expanding these ties. Current indicators give us the confidence that the Arab-Indian cooperation is embarking on a promising future, in view of the great financial and human capabilities between the two sides as well as the tangible progress witnessed in these relations, particularly after the establishment of the Arab-Indian Cooperation Forum in 2008 which aims, amongst other things, to further strengthen the economic, trade and financial cooperation and to ease the launch of joint ventures between the two sides. Among them are the Indian-Arab cultural weeks, the Conference of Arab and Indian Universities' Presidents, the India-Arab Cooperation Forum in the field of energy, the India-Arab Cooperation Forum in the media field and the Indo-Arab partnership conference in the field of investment, which India hosted its most recent session in November 2014. The economic cooperation between the Arab countries and the Republic of India has witnessed a remarkable progress over the past few years as the value of bilateral trade reached around 200 billion dollars in 2014. Noting here the growth of trade exchange between the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Republic of India in particular, which reached over 253 million Bahraini dinars in 2014. Besides, the Kingdom of Bahrain, despite its small size, is home to a large Indian community, the largest in the Kingdom, of around 350,000 people, who made great and much-appreciated contribution to the development and building process of the Kingdom of Bahrain. They live in security and peace and practice their religious rituals in their places of worship in an atmosphere of freedom, which the Kingdom of Bahrain is always keen to reinforce. In this respect, we need further efforts to be able to advance trade and economic relations between the two sides, giving due attention to investment, as both sides provide many opportunities in this regard, such as investment in projects relating to energy, Information Technology, sciences, technologies and environmental protection. The Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Arab countries and their Indian counterparts could also play a vital role in encouraging and developing cooperation between the two sides in the economic and investment fields. We also hope for the increase of cooperation between the two sides in many fields, such as the agricultural and food security, combating desertification, development of human resources, and health fields among others. Ladies and Gentlemen, The Kingdom of Bahrain has been keen to host the first session of the Arab-Indian Cooperation Forum, which God willing, will be the real boost to the ties of cooperation between the two sides and to reach wider horizons of cooperation at all levels to achieve for our countries and people further progress and prosperity. We trust that this mechanism of cooperation will contribute to the deepening of coordination and understanding between the two sides on various regional and international issues of concern for all of us, and enhance mutual confidence between the two sides, which is one of the most outstanding features of the Arab-Indian relations. There is no doubt that there are many other international issues that are in need for Indo-Arab cooperation, most importantly combating terrorism and spread of terrorist groups, which pose threats on international peace and security. It requires joint international efforts because the threat represented by terrorism is a common threat, which does not distinguish between geographical regions, faiths or cultures. For this reason, we are looking forward to increasing cooperation between our Arab countries and the Republic of India, which itself has suffered the scourge of terrorist groups. There are also issues such as the environment, climate change, global warming and the need for restructuring of the United Nations Security Council whose structure is still reflecting the international reality and power balance of 1945, the aftermath of World War II. From this podium, we call for expanding the Council's permanent and non-permanent membership to create a just representation of all the important international powers. Finally, we look forward to hold numerous activities in the future, as part of the executive programme for the next two years. We also hope that the formation of this gathering would be the quickest way towards further coordination and cooperation between the two sides and would contribute to achieving the aspirations of our people for a better future.
