Bahrain-based Hilal Conferences & Exhibitions (HCE) and international consultancy North Star Associates are gearing up for the second edition of the Gulf Industry Forum following the success of the inaugural event last January.

The GIF www.gulfindustryforum.com will see senior government, industry and business officials discuss key industry issues on February 9 at the Bahrain International Exhibition & Convention Centre (BIECC).

The forum is being held alongside HCE’s flagship trade show, Gulf Industry Fair, which runs from February 8 to 10, 2011.

Top-level speakers and delegates will discuss major topics including powering industrial development; industrial workforce; market innovation and creating industrial and manufacturing businesses, said a HCE statement.

It is a unique opportunity for businessmen and industrialists from the Gulf region and further afield to exchange information, views and opinions under the Forum theme ‘The Future is Industry', it added.

HCE conference director Ahmed Suleiman said: 'The inaugural Forum in 2010 laid the foundations for HCE’s vision to develop Bahrain as an intellectual meeting point by bringing together leading regional and global experts to share their views on industrialisation.'

'It provides a platform for constructive dialogue and ideas among key decision makers and industrialists in an environment of debate, unfettered by distractions of self-promotion,' he noted.

'Gulf Industry Forum 2011' is being held in a period of continued economic growth in the region as GCC governments proceed with massive industrial investment programmes and the stabilisation of oil prices to Opec-acceptable levels.

The future of industry in the region is sustainable and exciting, particularly for manufacturing and services sectors, which will see steady stream of business opportunities in the next few years, the official added.-TradeArabia News Service