Thursday 09 / January / 2025
Muscat: Activities of the media gathering themed “Oman and the World” concluded today. The two-day event was organized by the Ministry of Information with the participation of media persons and journalists from various countries around the world, marking the Sultanate of Oman’s celebrations of His Majesty the Sultan’s Accession Day.
The final day of the event addressed several topics, including the Sultanate of Oman’s efforts in environmental initiatives and achieving a zero-carbon neutrality strategy by 2050, developing governorates and comparative advantage, investment opportunities in industrial zones, the strategic role of Sohar Freezone. The event also highlighted incentives, the role of Oman Investment Authority (OIA) in attracting foreign investments, investing funds and developing them for generations.
Qais bin Mohammed Al Yousef, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, highlighted the achievements made over the past five years under the leadership of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik.
He pointed out that the Sultanate of Oman managed to cut down the public debt from 60 percent to 30 percent, thereby retaining its investment attraction status within its credit rating.
On his turn, Dr. Abdullah Ali Al Amri, Chairman of the Environment Authority said that the Authority’s strategy deals with the sustainable utilization of natural resources and their investment in a way that ensures the realization of high added value, renewable energy, diverse resources, and rationalization of consumption to achieve energy security, a green and circular economy. The move, he added, responds to national needs and is consistent with the global trend.
Al Amri highlighted the significant improvement achieved by the Sultanate of Oman in the international classification of the environmental performance index. Oman obtained the 54th position globally in 2024, compared to the 149th position in 2022.
In the field of protection of the environment from pollution, he explained that the related achievements. The achievements include the establishment of 48 air quality stations and 43 radiation monitoring stations, the expansion in the early warning system for radiation monitoring, the implementation of the national strategy for integrated waste management, and the establishment of 68 sites for recycling construction waste.
Al Amri also outlined the efforts of the Sultanate of Oman in relation to the phenomenon of climate change and net zero neutrality, including the adoption of the national strategy for the orderly transition to net zero neutrality, developing the political framework for registering and issuing carbon reduction certificates in accordance with Article 6 of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, drafting the national inventory report on greenhouse gas emissions, and implementing a strategy for the gradual elimination of ozone-depleting substances.
On the other hand, Sheikh Hilal bin Said Al Hajri, Governor of A’Dakhiliyah, reviewed the comparative and competitive advantage and the archaeological tourism potential of the 9 wilayats in the governorate, including Nizwa Fort and Souq, Al Aqar Neighbourhood, Bahla Fort and Souq, Jibreen Fort, Fanja Souq in Bidbid and Misfat Al Abryeen Heritage Village in Al Hamra.
During the visual presentation, Al Hajri touched on the comparative and competitive advantage in the knowledge economy in A’Dakhiliyah Governorate, represented by the University of Nizwa, the University of Technology and Applied Sciences, and the Sultan Qaboos Institute for Teaching Arabic to Non-Native Speakers, in addition to cultural centers and public and private libraries.
He highlighted the comparative and competitive advantage in the field of converting industries through the cities of Nizwa and Samail Industrial City (Madayn), which house more than 300 diverse industrial, service and commercial projects. He added that the volume of investment in these projects stands at approximately RO 722 million.
Khalid bin Sulaiman Al Salehi, Director General of Marketing and Commercial Affairs at the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn), presented a visual presentation on the prominent projects and the results achieved during the past five years, which, he said, witnessed a rapid growth in their digital indicators that directly contribute to strengthening the national economy in line with Oman Vision 2040.
He pointed out that the cumulative investment volume increased from RO 6.6 billion at the beginning of 2020 to RO 7.6 billion at the end of the first half of 2024, posting a growth of RO 1 billion.
The event included a visual presentation on major projects and services provided by Sohar Freezone, presented by Mohammed bin Ali Al Shizawi, Acting CEO of the Zone. He touched on the integrated attractive elements the zone enjoys in terms of geographical location, ease of doing business, competitive cost, in addition to business solutions. The port, he explained, has an adequate depth to accommodate different types and sizes of shipments and it offers storage solutions for all goods, in addition to free trade agreements.
He further said that Sohar Port and Freezone is an integrated complex that provides the main logistics activities, industries and marine services, including ship maintenance and cleaning, a duty-free market, a sailors’ club, ship fuelling and ship waste collection.
Thuraiya Ahmed Suwaidan Al Balushi, Senior Manager at Oman Investment Authority (OIA), gave a visual presentation about the stages of establishing the Investment Authority, which was established in 2020 by merging the State General Reserve Fund, established in 1980, and Oman Investment Fund, established in 2006, and merging some state-owned companies that were supervised by the Ministry of Finance.
She pointed out that OIA seeks to invest and develop funds for future generations, attract foreign investments, support the state's general budget with revenues and advance the target economic sectors.
She added that the OIA investment portfolios are geographically distributed over more than 30 countries in various continents of the world, 59.7 percent of which are in the Sultanate of Oman, 20.1 percent in North America and 10.1 percent in Europe.
She further said that Oman Future Fund began its operations on 17 January 2024. The fund, she explained, aims to stimulate the economy by participating in financing projects and stimulating bold investments in the Sultanate of Oman. The fund’s capital stands at RO 2 billion over a period of 5 years, distributed as follows: 90 percent for direct local projects and 10 percent for small and medium enterprises and start-ups.
