Bahraini employment and training tops the agenda for a group of candidates campaigning for seats on the Bahrain Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI) board.

The Tadhamon party, which is running in a group of 10 candidates, announced its aims and goals during a press conference at Zayani House, in the Diplomat Area, yesterday, reported the Gulf Daily News (GDN), our sister publication.

Al Zayani Investments honorary chairman Khalid Al Zayani is heading the group, which hopes to boost the role of the BCCI, increase jobs for Bahrainis and streamline processes for small and medium enterprises.

"We want to create jobs for Bahrainis," said Al Zayani.

"The figures at the end of December last year said that jobs for expats went up by seven per cent.

"However, jobs for Bahrainis only went up by 4 per cent.

"If expat jobs are increasing that much, that means there are jobs in Bahrain - they just aren't going to Bahrainis.

"We want to see why this is and change that.

"If it's because the Bahrainis are not trained or qualified for those jobs, then let's train them.

"Of course we need expats in jobs across the country, but the priority first and foremost should be Bahrainis."

He added the group felt strongly that there should be no politics at the BCCI and that any political issues should be directed to parliament.

"We also want the chamber to have a leading role," Al Zayani said.

"It should be consulted before big decisions are made.

"Most importantly, we want to increase the calibre of the board in order to run it as professionally as we run our business.

"We want it to be on par with chambers from the US, the UK, France and Germany."

He also said the chamber needed to include more entrepreneurs and younger businessmen and women. "We have two young members in our party," he said.

"We also want the chamber to have a special committee for younger businessmen and women and entrepreneurs, which our younger members can head.

"I'm sure that [UCO Marine Contracting executive director] Mohamed Ali Almusallam will be able to do that admirably."

Origin Group chief executive and former Labour Ministry assistant under-secretary Ahmed Al Banna said it was important for the BCCI board to take a long-term approach.

"We also want to ensure that the board of directors does not interfere in the day to day running of the chamber," he said.

"That is the chief executive's job and we cannot be a hindrance.

"We should be focusing on the next 10 years, benchmarks for the future.

"We have to identify the gaps in the chamber and work to fix them." - TradeArabia News Service