Bahrain reopen trade talks with Iran

Bahrain Iran Talks

After initial talks were frustratingly delayed back in February thanks to political tensions, Bahrain are set to reopen talks with Iran over the importing of natural gas.

A Bahranian paper reported the Gulf state's senior oil official stating the nation's intentions on repairing damaged relations with Tehran. Like much of the Arab world, Bahrain has seen a steep rise in natural gas consumption as its economy grows alongside a petrol-dollar-fuelled boom in the region. Bahrain is now looking to continue this growth and boost both domestic supply and imports.

"He revealed Bahrain's intention to resume negotiations with Iran to import natural gas, adding that talks would begin again soon," the daily al-Waqt said, without quoting the head of National Oil and Gas Authority Abdul-Hussain bin Ali Mirza.

Suspended talks

The Shi'ite Muslim majority state had suspended talks with Iran after political tensions led to unrest between the two governments. An Iranian official was reported to have made comments that appeared to raise questions of Bahrain's sovereignty.

Bahrain's Gulf neighbour Qatar have also been involved in talks over importing over one billion cubic feet per day of natural gas.

In 2007 the Bahrain consumed 1.3 billion cubic feet of gas per day, it expects consumption to rise to 2 billion cubic feet per day in about 10 years

The talks also represent Middle East ambitions to show greater unity to western nations, such as America, from which they are trying to move away both economically and politically.

And with recent reports of Middle Eastern nations wanting to establish a common currency in the region in order to facilitate trade, along with the region apparently collaborating with Russia and China to stop trading oil against the US dollar, the future of the Arab world looks bright. If only the region's political stability was in line with its economic ambitions.

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