Bahrain Bay, the $2.5 billion waterfront development, is participating in the annual global real estate exhibition MIPIM 2011, being held in Cannes, France, from today to Friday.

The move demonstrates the development's ongoing commitment to its third party developers and the continued economic growth of the kingdom.

Bringing together some of the world's most influential real estate professionals and international property development projects, the event will provide Bahrain Bay with a unique opportunity to connect with more than 17,000 key real estate decision-makers from around the world including professionals, investors, governments and international corporations.

Last year the event attracted more than 3,600 investors, 1,200 developers and more than 1,700 exhibiting companies.

'This year marks our 5th year attending the exhibition and with optimism increasing among investors, MIPIM provides an ideal platform to market both Bahrain and Bahrain Bay to global real estate developers and investors,' said Bahrain Bay chief executive officer Bob Vincent.

'The event, like in previous years, is expected to receive an overwhelming number of visitors which will allow us to capitalise on various networking opportunities as well as hear the opinions of key industry players.

'Over the last 12 months Bahrain Bay has successfully achieved several key milestones, the most recent being the completion of phase one of site wide infrastructure, which was a major achievement for not only Bahrain Bay but for all parties involved.

'MIPIM provides us with the ideal forum to announce the projects latest developments and to create awareness of the kingdom's investment opportunities.'

MIPIM offers an excellent balance between business development and networking, said deputy chief executive Abdulla Al Doseri.

'Our strategy for this year's event remains the same as in previous years - to attract offshore investors to create a business network for future investments into the region and more specifically, Bahrain - and I am confident that we will be able to show investors that the construction sector in Bahrain is once again beginning to thrive and Bahrain Bay is a perfect example of this.'-TradeArabia News Service