Strong bilateral ties between the two sides were reflected in the excellent cooperation in handling Covid-19

Ahead of the 3rd India-Bahrain High Joint Commission meeting scheduled to be held next week, senior officials from India and Bahrain reviewed the entire gamut of bilateral ties on Wednesday.

At the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) held in virtual mode, both sides reviewed their cooperation in different areas, including oil and gas, trade and investment, defence and security, food security, healthcare, renewable energy, space, IT, human resource, education and culture.

According to a statement by the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the two sides highlighted the strong bilateral ties spanning a wide range of areas. This was also reflected in the excellent cooperation between the two countries in handling Covid-19 situation, the officials noted.

The SOM was co-chaired by Secretary (CPV & OIA), Ministry of External Affairs of India Sanjay Bhattacharyya and Under Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kingdom of Bahrain Shaikh Abdulla bin Ahmed Al Khalifa.

The SOM came ahead of the 3rd India-Bahrain High Joint Commission meeting scheduled to be held in New Delhi on 7 April. It will be co-chaired by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Bahrain’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani.

In November last year, EAM Jaishankar had visited Bahrain and held talks with his counterpart Zayani where they discussed historical ties and cooperation in diverse sectors between the two countries and held deliberations on regional and international issues.

Jaishankar had thanked the administration of Bahrain for ‘taking special care’ of Indians during the Covid-19 pandemic.

India had in January gifted 1 lakh doses of Made-in-India Covid-19 vaccines to Bahrain. India’s supplies to Bahrain marked the first such aid to a country in West Asia, which New Delhi sees as part of its extended neighborhood.