ICE President Richard Coackley visited Bahrain in October as part of his Presidential tour to the Middle East region where he also attended the ICE’s 3rd MEA Convention in Dubai.
The President's visit to Bahrain began with a meeting at the British Embassy where the Ambassador Iain Lindsay gave the Richard a briefing on the economic and political situation in Bahrain. This was then followed by a visit to Bahrain University to meet with the Dean of Engineering, Dr Nader Al Bastaki and other senior lecturers. They discussed future cooperation and ways to hold joint seminars and provide training for the students with the aim of getting them to become ICE members.
In the afternoon, the President met with the Minister of Works, his undersecretary and the assistant under secretary. They discussed how they could cooperate with the ministry as they would like their engineers to follow the ICE route and eventually become chartered. The minister is a member of the ICE.
From there the Presidential party were taken to Gudaibiya Palace to meet the Deputy PM, Sheikh Khalid bin Abdallah Al Khalifa. While there they discussed ways of co-operating with British industry and encouraging more British firms to work in Bahrain. Sheikh Khalid is himself a civil engineer.
The President and ICE Director of Membership, Mr David Lloyd-Roach, were then taken the north of Manama where Hyder are consultants on a precast, segmented, post-tensioned flyover project. This was followed by a meeting with board members of the Bahrain Society of Engineers and future cooperation and training were discussed. In the evening the President met with members and the members and the day ended with a Gala Dinner. The British ambassador, the Minister of Works and the undersecretary attended.
For more information about ICE activities in Bahrain, please contact Ismail Khonji at ikhonji@batelco.com.bh
Photo: Clockwise from left - Under Secretary of Ministry of Works, ICE Director of Membership David Lloyd-Roach , ICE President Richard Coackley, H.E. Deputy Prime Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Abdallah Al Khalifa, H.E. Essam Abdallah Khalaf Minister of Works, Ismail Khonji ICE Bahrain Representative, Assistant Under Secretary of Ministry of Works.