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Bahrain Foreign Minister Abdullatif Bin Rashid Alzayani will arrive in New Delhi on Sunday for a two-day visit, the Ministry of External Affairs said on Friday. During his visit, the Bahrain Foreign Minister will meet with External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar. He will depart from India on Monday. Abdullatif Bin Rashid Alzayani's visit, aimed at further strengthening the bilateral relations between the two countries, comes after S. Jaishankar's visit to Bahrain in December last year. During that visit, Jaishankar co-chaired the fourth meeting of the India–Bahrain High Joint Commission (HJC). The two sides had agreed to expand the scope of bilateral cooperation in the education sector. In this regard, the Indian side welcomed more Bahraini students wishing to enroll in leading higher education institutes in India. Both sides also stressed the importance of working to sign a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the two governments to enhance educational cooperation. They also agreed to deepen cooperation on consular issues and welcomed the decision to establish a Joint Consular Committee to discuss matters of mutual interest and strengthen collaboration in this area. The Indian side acknowledged that the bilateral security dialogue and the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) in the field of combating international terrorism are important mechanisms for institutionalising cooperation in security and cybersecurity. The meeting also marked the continued expansion of cultural exchanges, with both nations agreeing to renew their Cultural Exchange Program and work on new initiatives to foster deeper ties. India and Bahrain enjoy excellent bilateral relations characterised by cordial political, economic, cultural, and people-to-people contacts. The presence of close to 332,000 Indian nationals—comprising nearly a quarter of Bahrain’s total population of 1.5 million—serves as an important anchor of the two nations’ long-standing friendship.
