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Bahrain Crown Prince meets leaders

Special Correspondent

— Photo: AFP

BOOST TO TIES: Crown Prince of Bahrain Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al-Khalifa with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Tuesday.

NEW DELHI: The Crown Prince of Bahrain, Shaikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, met on Tuesday President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Vice-President B.S. Shekhawat, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, Overseas Indian Affairs Minister Vayalar Ravi Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamed and National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan.

The Indian side, official sources said, expressed happiness that Bahrain would be opening its Embassy in the capital.

According to the sources, the Crown Prince was also congratulated on the successful conduct of elections in Bahrain.

The entire gamut of bilateral and regional issues is believed to have figured in the talks that the Shaikh had with his Indian interlocutors. New Delhi, on its part, wants to move the bilateral relationship beyond simply oil and gas issues to downstream investments and initiatives in the field of information technology and pharmaceuticals.

Talking to this correspondent after his meeting with the Crown Prince, Mr. Vayalar Ravi said New Delhi had handed over a draft agreement to improve the lot of Indian workers employed in Bahrain. The draft was similar to the agreement signed some time ago between India and the United Arab Emirates.

Stating that Bahrain had a positive attitude to the issues facing Indian workers, the Minister said the Crown Prince was thinking in terms of putting in place "social housing" for Indian workers to tackle the problem of over-crowding.

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