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500 businesswomen took part and investments agreed on reached $150 million
The Femmes Chefs d'Entreprises Mondiales (FCEM) 63rd World Business Women's Congress, held under the patronage of HRH Princess Sabeeka bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Wife of the King of Bahrain and Chairperson of Bahrain's Supreme Council for Women (SCW), concluded yesterday with a great success.
The three-day event, organized by the Bahrain Business & Professional Women International Federation (BPW) under the theme "Our Bridges to the World", witnessed the participation of more than 500 high-profile businesswomen and entrepreneurs representing nearly 40 countries around the world as well as a group of prominent international figures. Thus it received unrivaled attention by means of local regional and International media especially that of the Kingdom of Bahrain is the second country in the Arab world, which had the honor of hosting and organizing this event after the Kingdom of Morocco.
Shaikha Hind Bint Salman Al Khalifa, President of BPW Bahrain expressed her happiness over the overwhelming success of the conference and that proudly has achieved the goals that held her.
"We proudly have succeeded in making this global event a platform to encourage communication and establishing new business partnerships across borders and through bilateral meetings (B2B meetings) which had been successful thanks for the active participation by a group of the most successful entrepreneurs from the Middle East, Europe, Asia, Africa and North America," she said.
Shaikha Hind stressed that these meetings brought together business owners from different regions and sectors together and saw the birth of new ideas and achieved concrete results through contracts and trade agreements. "It is hoped that these meetings open new doors for partnerships and new businesses all over the world, despite all the difficult circumstances going on in the globe," she concluded.
Commenting on the success of the event, President of the FCEM, Laura Frati Gucci, said "One of the main objectives behind choosing to host the event in the Arab world for the second time is to attract the largest number of Arab businesswomen. We encourage all business owners from the region to take advantage of this opportunity to connect and create new horizons for cooperation," confirming that there are a large promising growth opportunities in the Arab world.
"Supporting women in general to establish relationships that enhance the growth of her business, or create new projects with global partners is one of the most fundamental goals of the FCEM," emphasizing that this global event is an excellent platform for women leaders in business to explore new opportunities for cooperation and business growth.
In the same context, President of the Arab Businesswomen Council, Ambassador of the FCEM in the Arab region, HH Shaikha Dr. Hessa Saad Al-Abdullah Al-Salem Al-Sabah hailed the great enthusiasm shown by the Arab businesswomen towards this evolving investment and trade exchange program. "I extend my congratulations to my colleagues at the BPW for their neat and wonderful preparation for the event. I thank all those who contributed in the success of this global event, which drew the attention of a large number of businesswomen and returned tremendous benefits to the participants." concluded Al-Sabah, wishing for more editions of the event to be held in Arab world for its great returns.
In a related context, the Head of Investment and Technology Promotion Office (ITPO) at the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Dr. Hashim Hussain, stressed that the conference was a great success. "UNIDO help to prepare for more than 400 bilateral meetings (B2B) resulted in around 40 letters of intent were agreed on. The estimated investment of these letters is $150 million. I consider this as one of the biggest achievements of the conference and the clearest indicator of success," he highlighted.
The prestigious event saw the participation of a group of prominent international figures like Her Excellency Shaikha Lubna bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister of Development and International Affairs and President of Zayed University
United Arab Emirates, HRH Princess Lulua Al-Faisal bin Abdul Aziz - Deputy Chairman of the Board of Trustees and General Supervisor of Effat University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Dr. Sharifah Al-Yahyai, an academic specializing in women's and family empowerment and former Minister of the Ministry of Family and Community Development - Oman, Dr. Massouma Al-Mubarak, a professor of economics and international politics at Kuwait University, and a former minister and member of the Kuwaiti parliament and many others.
For its part, astronaut and adventurer Namira Salim expressed her admiration for he neat organization of the global event and the Bahraini people's kindness and hospitability. The Pakistani-origin is the first character in South Asia, the Middle East and Monaco to launch and promote for private space trips. "I was highly impressed by the immaculate organization of the 63rd FCEM World Congress and specially the warm hospitality of the Bahraini people. It was a world class high networking event of 500 international delegates, where lasting friendships and connections built our bridges to the world. The special B2B sessions were instrumental in creating new business partnerships across borders and I congratulate the executive committee for the massive success of this event,' she commented.
The congress also included recreational and educational activities and field trips to a number of historical, traditional, touristic and archaeological areas in the Kingdom. Trips were also organized to institutions which have an instrumental leading role in feminist work like the Supreme Council for Women, "Reyadat" complex and to the Industrial Incubators.
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© Press Release 2015
