Bahrain is on the verge of a second industrial revolution, under a strategy designed to recapture the pioneering days which followed the discovery of oil.

Small and medium-sized businesses are at the forefront of the most significant wave of industrial development in Bahrain since the founding of Bapco in the 1930s, says Industry and Commerce Minister Dr Hassan Fakhro.

Bahrain is targeting industrial development and refocusing on practical training, to provide a skilled Bahraini workforce, he told the Gulf Daily News, our sister newspaper.

Projects such as the Bahrain International Investment Park and the upcoming National Institute for Industrial Training will nurture new industries and redress an imbalance between academic education and practical training, said Dr Fakhro.

'About 70 years ago, Bahrainis started the industrial development drive and found themselves eventually at the top of the pyramid with Bapco, the first and the most advanced industrial development in the entire Arabian region, before Saudi Aramco or any other,' said Dr Fakhro.

'If they could be trained to do that back then, then in my judgment they can achieve something similar today.'

The key is to provide adequate training in practical disciplines to Bahrainis and to create an 'enabling environment with minimum intervention' for small and medium enterprises, said Dr Fakhro.

In the longer term, Dr Fakhro expects resurgence in the country's heavy industries, once new supplies of gas are secured from neighbouring nations.- TradeArabia News Service