Political career of His Highness Shaikh Khalifa Bin Salman Al Khalifa

Assistant in the Court Office of his father the Ruler. (1953).
Member in the Rents Committee. (1954).
President of the Education Council. (1956)
Member of the Electricity Committee. (1957)
Member of the Civil Service Committee. (1957)
Acting Secretary of the Government of Bahrain. (1958)
Director of Government's Finance. (1958)
President of the Irrigation Council. (1960)
Mayor of Manama. (1961)
Chairman of the Monetary Council. (1962)
President of the Foreigners’ migration and residence issues. (1964)
Chairman of the Administrative Council. (1965)
Chairman of the State Council. (1966)
President of the Council of Ministers. (1970)
Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain. (1971)
During his term in Office as Prime Minister, His Highness has also served as 
Chairman of the Supreme Defense Council.
Chairman of the Supreme Council of Oil.
Chairman of the Civil Service Commission.
Chairman of the Supreme Council for Economic Development.



A life time of Service

Shaikh Khalifa started his working life at the age of 19 as an assistant in the office of his father, before becoming a member of the Rents Committee in 1954. It was his first experience with housing issues in Bahrain; issues that were to positively influence his actions on national housing policies many years later.

Appointed head of the Council of Education in 1956, he was charged with the development and modernisation of the educational system in the country. It is due to these reforms, the foundation stones of the present free and compulsory state education systems, that has enable Bahrain to obtain a literacy rate of  over 90%, the highest rankings in education according to the UN, in the Arab world.

Shaikh Khalifa held many concurrent subsidiary posts and headed many committees throughout this time. During, his presidency of the Monetary Council for Bahrain, he initiated the issuance of a national currency to replace the Indian Rupee, possibly the most important single step in the country's development, one that would be instrumental in the rise of Bahrain as a modern financial center in later years. Although a British protectorate, local affairs in Bahrain had been governed, since 1920 by an elected Municipal Council. In 1962 Shaikh Khalifa was elected Mayor.

It was during this era that he undertook a rationalization of the various departmental functions of the Municipal Council establishing the nucleus of what were to become on independence the Ministries of today. In May 1966 Sheikh Khalifa took over the reins of the Presidency of the Administrative Council, working in parallel with the British authorities, so  on independence in 1971, it was a natural step to become head of the Council of Ministers that oversaw the transition of power.