Kingdom of Bahrain

​

Tuesday, 30 January—Bahrain’s criminal court sentenced two people to death and 19 others to life imprisonment in a ruling against a cell convicted of terror attacks. Charges included forming a terrorist cell that carried out a number of attacks, killing two policemen and wounding several others, and of smuggling weapons by boat from Iran.

 

Wednesday, 31 January—The CEO of Bahrain’s Bourse, Khalifa bin Ebrahim Al-Khalifa, signed an agreement with Mubasher Financial Services (BBK) to enable investors to trade on the Bahrain Bourse (BHB) online via the “Bahrain Trade” platform as the Kingdom facilitates access to international investors. The agreement was signed by BBK’s Chief Executive, Reyadh Yousif Sater.

 

State of Kuwait

​

Monday, 29 January—The Chief Executive of state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC), Nizar Al-Adasani, unveiled plans to increase the company’s oil production to 4.75 million barrels per day by 2040.

Kuwait is investing heavily to boost its oil production while appearing the least attracted by diversification efforts among GCC states.

​

Thursday, 1 February—Kuwait's Parliament Speaker, Marzouq Al-Ghanim, arrived in Geneva heading a parliamentary delegation which will respond to objections by the Inter-Parliamentary Union. Such objections, regarding Israeli-Kuwaiti relations and Kuwait’s recent criticism of Israel’s justice system, have been raised by members of the Israeli Knesset.

 

Sultanate of Oman

​

Sunday, 28 January—Oman’s non-oil exports surged by 31.4 % in the first nine months of 2017. It is worth noticing that a major recovery in energy and petrochemical product prices indirectly helped the country strengthen its non-oil export revenue.

 

Thursday, 1 February—Oman and Qatar signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in Muscat, on food production and marketing, joint investment and export of Omani products to Qatar. The agreement was signed by Oman’s Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, Fuad bin Ja’afar Al-Sajwani, and by Qatar’s of Municipality and Environment, Mohammed bin Abdullah Al-Rumaihi. Qatar has been struggling to ensure its food security.

 

State of Qatar

​

Monday, 29 January—Qatar's Minister of Defence, Khalid bin Mohammad Al-Attiyah, travelled to Washington D.C. as part of the Minister’s lobbying efforts to bring the US on Qatar’s side and against Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Egypt and the UAE — those currently boycotting Qatar on the basis of Doha’s undermining of regional stability. Al-Attiyah said Qatar plans to expand the American airbase that currently houses about 10,000 US military personnel.

 

Tuesday, 30 January<