Bahrain's Minister for transport Kamal bin Ahmed Mohamed who also looks after his country's defence matters, visited HAL Chalet at the on-going Farnborough International Air Show (July 14 to 20) and evinced keen interest in HAL's activities.

At a meeting with HAL Chairman Dr RK Tyagi and Company Directors, he sought HAL's technical support in maintaining the Hawk fleet of Bahrain Air Force. He also urged HAL to increase its participation level at the biennial Bahrain Air Show. "Without HAL, our shows are incomplete", he told HAL top executives. He felt that Indian Defence companies have a lot to offer to the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and Bahrain could play a key role in all this.

Earlier this year, HAL had sent a small delegation to the Bahrain Air Show to explore the possible areas of cooperation. A team from Bahrain followed it up immediately with their visit to HAL during Defexpo in Delhi.