On October 11-17, 2017, CLDP organized a 5-day study tour in Washington, DC for members of Bahrain’s parliament and their legal advisors and professional staff.  OGC General Counsel, Peter Davidson, welcomed the delegation at the Department of Commerce (DOC) headquarters, where they met with offices of the International Trade Administration to discuss the importance of intra agency coordination. The delegation accompanied Peter Krug, DOC's Associate Director for Intergovernmental Affairs, to a hearing at Congress’s House Science Committee.  The delegation also met with US State officials, including Deputy Assistant Secretary Lenderking, to discuss the importance of US-Bahrain bilateral relationships. Throughout the program, CLDP Attorney-Advisor Arezo Yazd facilitated meetings for the delegation with Members of Congress and staffers (Senate and House), local legislative bodies in Maryland, as well as a number of bipartisan organization such as the Congressional Research Services and the U.S. Helsinki Commission.

The workshop successfully facilitated the exchange of practice and experience on the legislative drafting process between Bahraini delegates and their American counterparts by focusing on U.S. institution building and resource development available to members of Congress and professional staff.  Lastly, building on past CLDP programs, experts from DC-based think-tanks, incubators and Google discussed commercial legislative reform as a means to help promote small-and-medium-size enterprise (SME) growth and how commercial legislation serves as a tool to economic development and growth.  

As a result of CLDP programming with the Bahrain parliament, the participants are implementing commercial legislation that will promote economic reform and foreign investment in Bahrain.