Tokyo: The future of Bahrain's economy depends on diversification, the country's industry and commerce minister declared while visiting Japan.

During his visit to the country in east Asia to look into potential new business relationships, Abdullah Adel Fakhro was speaking.

"Bahrain's economy cannot survive (as a single property economy," he told Arab News Japan. We've been aiming for diversification. This includes the financial services industry, whose GDP (gross domestic product) has for the first time surpassed that of the oil industry.

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The goal of this trip is to significantly increase our presence in the non-oil sectors of our economy, particularly the industrial and ICT (information and communications technology) sectors, as well as other sectors like the pharmaceutical, aluminium, and petrochemical industries, as well as food security and tourism.

The economy has become very diversified today. The oil industry used to contribute 40% of Bahrain's GDP, but now it only accounts for almost 20%.

So, he declared, "we are making good progress towards diversifying into an economy that is not reliant on the price of oil."

The journey has been a huge success. From a B2B (business-to-business) perspective, our delegation met with a number of large Japanese corporations, and our conversations were very productive.

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"The visit's goal is to deepen our bilateral relationships with Japan on all fronts, including diplomatic, educational, and cultural ties.

"There are numerous opportunities for investment and collaboration between our two countries, and we look forward to fostering these relationships.

Additionally, it was disclosed that a joint committee would be established to carry on the conversation about potential areas and opportunities for cooperation between the two sides. Overall, the trip has been very successful, and we hope to continue building our relationship, the minister said.

Japan was Bahrain's first customer for its oil after it was discovered, and the two countries have had close ties ever since.

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Fakhro declared: "We are very proud of this historic relation and since that time, this relationship has only grown stronger."

He emphasised that relations extended beyond diplomacy to include matters of education, culture, and business.