Bahrain Special - September 2015

IP: The Kingdom of Bahrain

The Kingdom of Bahrain is a small island country situated near the western shores of the Arabian Gulf. To the west of Bahrain, connected via the King Fahad Causeway, is Saudi Arabia. Other neighbouring countries include Iran (200 km to the north across the Arabian Gulf) and Qatar which lies to the southeast across the Gulf of Bahrain.

Due to its strategic geographical location, Bahrain (meaning "two seas" in Arabic) has long been an important trading centre and was one of the first countries in the region to discover oil.

Declared independent in 1971, Bahrain remained a state until becoming a constitutional monarchy in 2002 and is headed by King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

Bahrain is currently home to a population of around 1.5 million and enjoys one of the most varied economies in the Middle East. According to a January 2006 report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, Bahrain has the fastest growing economy in the Arab world. Bahrain is a member of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), a regional...