Jotun Powder Coatings is currently eyeing Bahrain as its key market in 2011. The company has a 70 per cent market share in the GCC region excluding Saudi Arabia, where the Jotun group operates another manufacturing unit based in Dammam.

Baytik Industrial Investments (BII), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Kuwait Finance House - Bahrain (KFH-Bahrain), has announced it has signed an agreement with Siemens WLL Bahrain.

Local SMEs from manufacturing and services sectors are strengthening their export activities via the Export Assistance Programme (EAP), a financial assistance service provided to companies aiming to increase opportunities and demand outside the UAE for their products.

The Arab world should embrace industrialisation to address the growing problem of unemployment in the region, according to industry leaders who participated in the session How can the Arab world become a Global Manufacturing Hub, held recently as part of the Global Arab Business Meeting in Ras Al Khaimah.