Muscat: At the behest of His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik, a programme to attract private investments and support Omani exports in foreign markets was launched today during the first meeting of the supervisory committee tasked with this special programme.

Held at the Diplomatic Institute, the meeting was chaired by H.E. Qais Mohammed al-Yousuf – the Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion – in the presence of Dr. Khamis Saif al-Jabri, Head of Oman Vision 2040 Implementation Follow-up Unit.

The programme is one of the accelerators of the first phase of Oman 2040 and it is closely associated with the themes of “economy and development” and “fiscal sustainability”. It is a stimulator par excellence in the national economy support scheme.

The programme focuses on empowering the private sector to take the helm of economic development, a core objective of the Tenth Five Year Plan (2021-2025).

The Council of Ministers’ financial and economic committee will supervise this programme, whose launch was flagged by the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion in cooperation with the Oman Vision 2040 Implementation Follow-up Unit and the Ministry of Economy.

The programme’s indicators will be listed under the banner of performance indicators of the Follow-up Unit, which will keep a regular record of the programme’s progress.

It also envisages a set of goals, including the analysis of the investment environment of local funds and foreign capital, addressing the challenges and studying successful global experiences of advanced nations.

The programme will furthermore focus on Omani exports and means of supporting them in foreign markets so that they could develop into a basic component of national economy.

Prior to its launch, a number of joint sessions were held among different economic sectors of relevance to the programme.

The sessions aimed to establish consensus about the target investments that figure in the first package of the programme, which covers the sectors of tourism, fisheries, converting industries, information and communications technology, logistics services, energy, and mining.

A list of initiatives and projects targeted by the programme will be developed over the next three years.

Other different sectors related to development will be incorporated in the future stages of the programme, targeting local and foreign investments, and these include the sectors of education, health, and sports.

To ensure its success, a set of enabling programmes were included such as ‘planning and development of instruments to stimulate investments and open up markets’; ‘streamlining and enumeration of government services’; ‘the development of special economic zones, free zones, mega projects, and economic gateways’; ‘enhancing economic efficiency in governorates’; ‘developing national capabilities and employment’; ‘developing laws and legislations’; and ‘management of the performance of related government establishments and media interactivity’.