LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Bahrain: Persian Gulf
built 658 days ago
Bahrain's strategic partnership with the U.S. has intensified since 1991. Bahraini pilots flew strikes in Iraq during the 1991 Gulf War, and the country was used as a base for military operations in the Gulf. Bahrain ... provided logistical and basing support to international Maritime Interdiction efforts to enforce UN sanctions and prevent illegal smuggling of oil from Iraq in the 1990s. Bahrain also provided extensive basing and overflight clearances for a multitude of U.S. aircraft operating in support of Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF) and Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). Bahrain also deployed forces in support of Coalition operations during both OEF and OIF. Bahrain has delivered humanitarian support and technical training to support the reconstruction of the Iraqi banking sector, and has offered support for each stage of Iraq's political transformation.
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With the continuing advance of Bahrain as a regional financial centre, the Central Bank of Bahrain (CBB) is to deploy a new national payment network that will allow real time online inter-bank payment and settlement. In addition to the real-time gross settlement system (RTGS), which allows the online inter-bank payment, the Bank will ... deploy a Securities Settlement System (SSS). With its robust and developing capital market, Bahrain is the financial hub of the Gulf and an international financial centre, meaning that it is a lucrative market for technology products and services. Both new CBB systems are expected to become operational during the latter part of half of 2007.
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The American Mission Hospital, affiliated with the National Evangelical Church, has operated continuously in Bahrain for more than a century. Bahrain has ... been a base for U.S. naval activity in the Gulf since 1947. When Bahrain became independent, the U.S.-Bahrain relationship was formalized with the establishment of diplomatic relations. The U.S. embassy at Manama was opened September 21, 1971, and a resident ambassador was sent in 1974. The Bahraini embassy in Washington, DC, opened in 1977. In October 1991, Amir Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa made a state visit to Washington.
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In Bahrain, petroleum production and processing account for about 60% of export receipts, 60% of government revenues, and 30% of GDP. Economic conditions have fluctuated with the changing fortunes of oil since 1985, for example, during and following the Gulf crisis of 1990-91. With its highly developed communication and transport facilities, Bahrain is home to multinational firms. A large share of exports consists of petroleum products made from imported crude oil. Construction proceeds on several major industrial projects. Unemployment, especially among the young, and the depletion of both oil and underground water resources are major long-term economic problems.
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More than 60 percent of Bahrain’s population is native-born, in contrast to the populations of other Persian Gulf states such as Kuwait, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, where foreign-born inhabitants outnumber the native population. Bahrain ... differs from its neighbors in that the number of followers of Shia Islam in the country is more than double that of the adherents of Sunni Islam, which is the largest group of Muslims worldwide. The Sunnis control the country’s government, however.
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Bahrain has become one of the Persian Gulf's most advanced economies and most progressive political systems since gaining its independence from Great Britain in 1971. Under a constitution promulgated by Sheikh Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa, the country became a constitutional monarchy in 2002, and the government has sought to reduce dependence on declining oil reserves and encourage foreign investment by diversifying the economy. Because of its communications and transportation infrastructure, regulatory structure, and cosmopolitan outlook, Bahrain is home to many multinational firms that do business in the region. In 2005, the U.S. and Bahrain ratified a free trade agreement.
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