Bahrain: Sustainable Energy Authority Established

 Image used for illustrative purpose. Palm Trees along King Faisal Highway in Bahrain. Getty Images
Image used for illustrative purpose. Palm Trees along King Faisal Highway in Bahrain. Getty Images
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Bahrain: Sustainable Energy Authority Established

 Image used for illustrative purpose. Palm Trees along King Faisal Highway in Bahrain. Getty Images
Image used for illustrative purpose. Palm Trees along King Faisal Highway in Bahrain. Getty Images

Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa issued Thursday a royal decree appointing Dr. Abdulhussain bin Ali Mirza as the president of the Sustainable Energy Authority (SEA).

The authority, affiliated to the Cabinet, will encourage more investments in the sector and conduct a comprehensive assessment to raise efficiency and develop a general policy.

SEA will also make proposals to set national sustainable energy goals in association with governmental and non-governmental entities.

Bahrain plans to provide around 5 percent of the electricity needs from the solar energy projects, which is equal to around 250 MW by 2025. Bahrain’s output totals around 3,920 MW daily from the natural gas stations.

The decree also stipulated the authority’s tasks such as proposing a work-plan and determining the goals to enhance the efficiency of sustainable energy in addition to suggesting projects and initiatives by which sustainable energy sources are developed.

Some of the goals are to monitor the performance of the sustainable energy sector and to put economic and technical indicators on the level of achieving strategic goals and initiatives of sustainable energy and efficiency. Other goals are moving into a low-carbon economy.

The tasks also include directing the private sector and activating its role in maintaining sustainable energy in addition to inciting it to establish private or joint firms that aim to raise energy efficiency and use sustainable energy sources to generate electricity.



China Expands Visa-free Entry to More Countries in Bid to Boost Economy

Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
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China Expands Visa-free Entry to More Countries in Bid to Boost Economy

Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
Shoppers with their purchased goods walk past a popular outdoor shopping mall in Beijing, on Nov. 14, 2024. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)

China announced Friday that it would expand visa-free entry to citizens of nine more countries as it seeks to boost tourism and business travel to help revive a sluggish economy.
Starting Nov. 30, travelers from Bulgaria, Romania, Malta, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Estonia, Latvia and Japan will be able to enter China for up to 30 days without a visa, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said.
That will bring to 38 the number of countries that have been granted visa-free access since last year. Only three countries had visa-free access previously, and theirs had been eliminated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The permitted length of stay for visa-free entry is being increased from the previous 15 days, Lin said, and people participating in exchanges will be eligible for the first time. China has been pushing people-to-people exchange between students, academics and others to try to improve its sometimes strained relations with other countries, The Associated Press reported.
China strictly restricted entry during the pandemic and ended its restrictions much later than most other countries. It restored the previous visa-free access for citizens of Brunei and Singapore in July 2023, and then expanded visa-free entry to six more countries — France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Malaysia — on Dec. 1 of last year.
The program has since been expanded in tranches. Some countries have announced visa-free entry for Chinese citizens, notably Thailand, which wants to bring back Chinese tourists.
For the three months from July through September this year, China recorded 8.2 million entries by foreigners, of which 4.9 million were visa-free, the official Xinhua News Agency said, quoting a Foreign Ministry consular official.