Bahrain's business owners will be able to save on time and paperwork thanks to an agreement which will allow them to renew their commercial registrations (CRs) at branches of Bahrain Post Office.

At a ceremony held at the Ministry for Post, Communications Frequencies and Transport Affairs in the Diplomatic Area, the department's Under-Secretary Shaikh Mohammed bin Khalifa Al Khalifa and Commerce Ministry Under-Secretary Abdulla Mansoor signed an agreement aimed to make life easier for Bahrain's business community.

The signing was held under the patronage of Deputy Prime Minister Shaikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa.

The new service will first be implemented for a three-month probation period in Budaiya, Hidd, Manama and Muharraq post offices. After assessing its efficiency the service will be rolled out to cover post offices across the country.

The move is in line with Prime Minister Shaikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa's instructions to streamline such measures for Bahrainis and expatriates alike.

It is also part of a drive to optimise postal offices and prepare them to fully integrate the country's high-profile e-government network.

'I think this is one of measures which will have a cumulative benefit for the decentralisation of services in Bahrain - especially the government services for which until now you were required to apply from one office in a central area of the country. This will give the user and the beneficiary of this service the option to chose the time and the place where they get the service done,' Shaikh Mohammed said.

Assistant Under-Secretary for Post Bader bin Khalifa Al Khalifa said the takeover of CR services by Bahrain's 14 postal branches was likely to prove a popular measure - as had been the case when they recently started to provide for the renewal of car registrations and driving licences, and the payment of utility bills and motor insurance.

'Today we signed an agreement with the Industry and Commerce Ministry with regard to renewing CRs for the general public - I believe that decentralising services from the government will benefit the public in general and the time that they consume doing just regular services will be reduced dramatically,' he said.

'We have transformed the postal offices by providing non-mail services. The response from the public when we implemented the previous services has been great, and we expect this to continue on the same trend now we are providing facilities for commercial registration,' he added. TradeArabia News Service