Bahrain has only 1.5 million people. This is smaller than many cities all over the world, let alone other countries. With regard to the area, the Persian Golf Island Nation is only about 300 square miles.
According to Noor Al Khulau, the Minister for Sustainable Development of Bahrain, its size is not a disadvantage.
“As we see it, Bahrain is the test place for countries in the region,” said Al Khulaif at AssetsThe most powerful women’s summit last week in neighboring Saudi Arabia.
Companies that work in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) belong to Saudi -Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman – Bahrain for this purpose.
You can “test your idea on a smaller scale, and if it goes wrong, it is 1.5 million people – it didn’t really go wrong,” she said. But if it is successful, you will gain trust to scale it in the region, she noticed. “We see Bahrain as the gateway to the GCC.”
Al Khulaif, who also acts CEO of the Bahrain Economic Development Board, said that the small size also enables close cooperation.
“We don’t really speak as a government, private sector and society,” she said. “There is a team -bahrain ethos in the country, and we do that together.”
This helps to explain how Bahrain has changed its economy so effectively beyond oil.
“For us, oil is not even the largest sector in our economy and has not been for almost two years, and that is the result of a trip that extends over decades,” she said.
Instead, financial services are the largest sector in which fintech is a large growth area, she said. Manufacturing, logistics, tourism and technology are also key sectors.
Bahrain has long had close economic relationships with Saudi Arabia and has learned to complement its much larger neighbors, with whom it is connected via a dam.
“We see ourselves as Saudi’s center,” said Al Khulaif.
For example, when Saudi -Arabia develops production, Bahrain will try to offer support functions for it, such as BackOffice, she said: “Our economy and the Saudi economy have been connected for many, many years, and we see ourselves as an integral part of the GCC economy.”
This story was originally on Fortune.com