The inaugural Made in GCC Forum and Exhibition takes place at Exhibition World Bahrain in Sakhir from 6 to 8 October 2026. The event is organised by Bahrain's Ministry of Industry and Commerce in cooperation with the General Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council and is held under the patronage of King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
Made in GCC is conceived as the first Gulf wide industrial forum, bringing together ministers of industry, national industrial development agencies, manufacturers, export credit and development finance institutions and the logistics providers that link the six member states. Its ministerial sessions address industrial integration across the GCC, financing for manufacturing, supply chain resilience and the harmonisation of standards and rules of origin that determine whether goods made in one member state move freely to the others.
The exhibition component gives national manufacturers from each of the six states a platform to present products to regional buyers, with sectors ranging from aluminium, petrochemicals and building materials to food processing, pharmaceuticals and engineered goods. Bahrain, which hosts the GCC's aluminium smelter Alba and a growing downstream cluster, is positioning itself as a natural convenor.
For chief executives and boards in Gulf manufacturing, the forum is the first coordinated regional venue for the localisation and industrial policy agenda that each member state has pursued largely on its own. Executives at industrial groups, sovereign development funds, banks financing manufacturing and logistics operators will use it to understand how the GCC intends to align incentives and trade rules, and to meet counterparts across borders. The forum runs the day before Fintech Forward at the same venue, allowing a combined visit.
