Bahrain Mirror (Exclusive): Eighty years have passed since the establishment of Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI), which remains the oldest chamber in the GCC states. The BCCI is still accomplishing its missions in maintaining the interests of traders, particularly the most prominent.

Despite all the volatility, merchants are the winners in all circumstances and crises, and this is what seems to be going on now. Merchants are the only party which the Government has accepted so far to hold a dialogue with, unlike all the Bahraini political, labor groups or other institutions that have been calling for opening channels of understanding and dialogue with the Government.

Although the Government agreed to hold a dialogue with the Chamber, it has been over one month since the launching of the program, which the Bahraini government dubbed the "National Employment Project", and the Chamber of Commerce still hasn't announced any position regarding the project that is supposed to solve the unemployment problem, but remained reserved for two reasons.

The first is waiting to see how flexible the government is with its requests to cancel or radically modify the flexible work permit (flexible visa), establish regulations for the creation of foreign companies, and reconsider the support of the Labour Fund "Tamkeen" for foreign investors' projects, in addition to restricting the freedom of movement of the foreign worker.

The second reason is to discover the change that will be made to the support program provided by Tamkeen for the salaries of Bahrainis employed in the private sector and the duration of the support, and whether there are new conditions that will accompany the increase in the amount and duration of support.

The BCCI did not even announce welcoming the project, but was preoccupied with a dialogue with Minister of Commerce and Industry Zayed Al-Zayani after government directives to hold dialogue with the Chamber.

On March 16, 2019, the vice president of BCCI Khalid Najib said, in a statement to the Al-Bilad local newspaper, that new regulations would be probably announced within two months, concerning the granting of commercial records and the licenses of opening companies for foreigners, as well as the dealing with flexible work permit files and bulk employment.

He stated that two working teams were formed with a government party, in order to submit recommendations to the government within two months. He added that progress was made and stressed that consultation firms were assigned to help the two parties find common solutions.

Eighty years have passed and the Chamber continues to maintain its approach, fully political subordination to the authority and full support to all its steps. The BCCI, however, demands double prices in the "Business".

The class that takes from everybody, only gives a few and wins a lot, has refrained during the severe economic crisis witnessed in the country from pumping any money, but made a commitment to invest in the country and expanded their money's investment outside the country.

It is noteworthy that two weeks after Samir Nas won the presidency of the Chamber, Nas Company was announced to have won three large tenders in the UAE worth more than 12 million dinars.

Despite the scarcity of reports on the amount of private sector funds spent in the local economy, there was an interesting article written by economist Jaafar Al-Sayegh in the Gulf News, titled: Where is the private sector? The author severely criticized the commercial sector in his piece.

The Chamber committed itself to its interests without expanding support for the employment of unemployed Bahrainis, and preferred to wait. The government is embarrassed by the increase of unemployment among young people, and the increase in employment of foreigners in the two sectors, and it has been obliged to increase the amount and duration of financial support provided for the wages of Bahrainis from Tamkeen fund, which traders want.

The BCCI knows the strength of its position and the weakness of the Government's economic position, with the rise of public debt and the conflict in the government's decision between the parties of the ruling family.

Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman who has been controlling the Chamber for years, announced his support for its position and publicly stated that he does not accept competition in their livelihood, but this does not seem sufficient to stop the economic trends required by the Gulf supporters and the Arab Monetary Fund.

This does not mean that economic transformations will ravage the interests of the Chamber, which was founded in 1939, as it is an important economic arm to the country, and has more than 70% of the workforce. The Chamber, which has representation in local economic bodies and institutions, has a space, without pressure, to meet with ambassadors and trade representatives, which supports its foreign relations and investments, and allows it to preside over joint business councils with more than 60 different countries.

The Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry celebrated its 80th anniversary while poor citizens are still looking for a chamber to represent and protect them as well as maintain their interests.

Some citizens, who thought that the Chamber elected by the legislative authority would offer them something, discovered  the opposite in the discussion of amendments session of the Unemployment Fund. The popular voice was stolen and the poor no longer have a voice in this country.

Arabic Version