Bahrain to open embassy in New Delhi

Dubai, Mar 20 (UNI) The kingdom of Bahrain is to open its embassy in New Delhi shortly, Minister of state for External Affairs E Ahamed has said.

Mr Ahamed said he has received a letter from Bahrain's Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Al Khalifa about the kingdom's desire to open its embassy in the national capital.

''We wholeheartedly welcome this decision, which will go a long way in further strengthening the time-honoured relationship between the two countries,'' he was quoted as saying.

Bahrain's diplomatic presence in India has been in the form of a consulate in Mumbai while all the other GCC states have their embassies in New Delhi.

"We are extremely happy that Bahrain has also decided to upgrade the status of its mission in India to that of an embassy,'' Mr Ahmed said at a meeting in Doha.

''India has centuries-old political, cultural and economic ties with this region,'' he said, adding the annual non-oil trade is more than 16 billion dollars and the GCC countries collectively host the largest Indian community exceeding 3.5 million with annual remittances exceeding eight billion dollars.

Mr Ahmed said the Amir of Qatar Shaikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani visited India last April and the Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in January this year.

India plans to invite other regional leaders to visit India in order to develop a common vision and strategy to deal with extremism, fundamentalism and terrorism, he added.

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