Muscat, February 2023: During the celebration of Omani Industry Day, which focused on the importance of promoting local content in the Sultanate of Oman, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MoCIIP), revealed the initiatives of the Manufacturing Industries Laboratory and the industries of the future, and the unified number for the Omani products.
In his speech in the ceremony, HE. Dr. Saleh bin Said Masan, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion for Commerce and Industry, said: “The industrial sector is one of the most important sectors of economic diversification in Oman Vision 2040, and locomotive and vital engine for the growth of the other economic sectors”
He added “In accordance with the sublime speech of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tariq - may almighty Allah protects and preserves him - in which he stressed on the required efforts to rank the Sultanate of Oman as a leading investment destination, and based on our believe that , there is a prospective link between the existing industrial sector and the other promising sectors, we celebrate the Omani industry day ,under the slogan of enhancing the local content in order to continue the growth path in the blessed era toward broader horizons and sustainable development”.
He clarified that , due to the geopolitical and economic variables , that the world is witnessing, such as the inflation in the prices of raw materials and commodities, disruption in securing supply chains and the widening tendency towards protectionism for local products and services, the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, has adopted a policy of promoting local content in order to increase links between commercial entities, and factories ,empowering small and medium enterprises by enhancing the production of goods , strengthening the providing of the local services, increasing the manufacturing capacity of the Sultanate of Oman , achieving an integration between industries ,and developing the skills and capabilities of the national workforce through training and qualification.
He added, the Ministry in cooperation with partners, also seeks to find appropriate enablers for implementing value programs, in addition to developing national exports, promoting, attracting direct domestic and foreign investments, localizing supply chains and improving the business environment.
The Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion for Commerce and Industry also, emphasized that the national product has a share in everything efforts of the ministry, while it is supporting national products locally, focusing on national industries, and targeting new exporting markets for the Omani products, as such efforts are considered as a great gain for the national economy and for the private sector in particular, as well as various initiatives have been allocated in order to enhance the presence of the national product locally and internationally.
The Undersecretary added that, MoCIIP also exerts efforts to unify the marketing identity of the national product, so as to create a unified national framework ,encourage Omani industrial establishments to target new markets, as such efforts will contribute to strengthen the local content., while the new identity will also contribute to raise the local and foreign consumer awareness about Omani products, and enhancing the In-Country Value added of the national products, in addition to organizing exhibitions in a number of governorates of the Sultanate of Oman,
He pointed out that, the statistics issued by the National Center for Statistics and Information NCSI show the contribution of the manufacturing sector at the end of third quarter - September 2022, recorded an increase by 65.6% , compared to the same period of last year, where its contribution at the current prices in the Gross Domestic Product GDP reached to 11% , while its contribution by the constant prices in GDP reached to 9.3% . The statistics also show that a number of locally manufactured commodity exports, recorded increased, such as the mineral products by 175%, metals by 27%, and chemicals by 32% and plastics by 42% in compare to the same period of last year over the same period last year. The statistics also show that, the number of the Omani cadres who are working in the industrial sector, increased by 4.3% to reach 34,790 Omanis.
He also pointed out that , despite the turmoil in the global markets during the past years, the Sultanate of Oman, was able to achieve growth in its indicators at various levels, whether in the number of projects inhabited in its industrial cities or the volume of its investments and the number of job opportunities that were provided directly and indirectly in the various governorates of the Sultanate of Oman, where industrial investments in the industrial areas reached to RO ( 7.5 ) billion , while the total number of new projects that were localized in the industrial areas , during the year 2022 , reached to (2398) projects. He also congratulated all the manufacturers on the Omani Industry Day and praised their efforts to achieve the sectors’ goals.
During the celebration by the Omani Industry Day, a dialogue session was held with His Excellency Qais bin Mohammad Al-Youssef, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, Dr. Saleh Masan, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for Commerce and Industry, Engineer Sami Al-Sahib, Director General of Industry at MoCiip , Al-Mutasim Al-Sariri, Director-General of In –contrary Value Added at MoCIIP , and Engineer Zahran Al-Abri, General Supervisor of the directorate of the Local Content at the General Secretariat of the Tender Board.
In the dialogue session, His Excellency Qais Al-Youssef praised the efforts made in the industrial sector, which had a positive impact on the industrial side in all the Wilayats across the governorates of the Sultanate of Oman. While a brief on the agreements and initiatives that have been worked on and the importance of linking industry to the fourth industrial revolution were also presented.
For his part , Engineer Sami Al-Sahib, Director General of Industry at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MoCIIP), highlighted on the industrial strategy that adopted by MoCIIP ,saying that : The industrial strategy is based on Oman Vision 2040, while it is considered as a pillar for the future industrial development.
Al Sahib emphasized that; MoCIIP will focus on implementing the executive programs of the industrial strategy by including them in the five-year development plans. He also affirmed that, MoCIIP will develop a governance framework to follow up on the implementation of the outputs of the manufacturing and future industries laboratory, and we will cooperate with investors to develop a time plan for the implementation of industrial projects that were announced at the manufactures meeting. “We will also work to develop new incentives for industrial investment opportunities that include financing and land allocation” Al Sahib added.
In the dialogue session, Engineer Sami Al-Sahib also highlighted the importance of the salt production plant project and its related industries.In the same session, the participated officials emphasized that, linking processes will be put in place between communications in the different directorates and the provision of customer service, as well as attention will be paid to the improving of the systems, as this steps will help to create various successes in favor of the customers.
Objectives of the National Product Identity Project:
The session included , the launching of the identity of the Omani product , while a discussion has highlighted the objectives of the national product identity project, which includes creating a unified national framework for defining the national product, unifying the marketing identity of the national product, raising consumer awareness about the Omani products, creating a list of Omani products with high added value, and coordinating with the concerned authorities to raise the competitiveness of the national product.
The outputs of The Manufacturing Industries and Future Industries Laboratory
The celebration ceremony of the Omani Industry Day also included the announcing of the outputs and initiatives of The Manufacturing Industries and Future Industries Laboratory, in which 83 entities from the government and private sectors participated, and 168 participants from various entities , who discussed 5 main pillars and hubs , which included :-
Cclinics to solve the problems of the manufacturing sector
The hub of clinics to solve the problems of the manufacturing sector has come out with several initiatives, including , enhancing the competitiveness of the Omani product, launching the Oman Barcoding Centre (GSI Oman) . issuing and updating legislation and laws, including the national product identity regulation, the laboratory registration regulation, the commercial complexes and centers regulation, and the consumer cooperatives regulation, as well as aligning the outputs of the vocational education with the needs of the industrial sector, facilitating access to soft financing from banks, developing the capabilities of financial and administrative entrepreneurs, increasing support for industrial projects through the Oman Development Bank, clarifying investment stages in addition to creating a guide to link all platforms related to investment, and protecting troubled companies. and setting specialized industrial complexes.
The industrial strategy:
As for the hub of focusing on the updating of the industrial strategy, which is linked to 16 entities and concentrating on 30 sub-sectors, the discussions on this topic have come out with a number of programs an initiatives , including the program for establishing industrial clusters based on new and knowledge-based companies, the entrepreneurship and industrial innovation program, the industrial development and modernization program, and the governance and industrial development management program.
The Investment Opportunities
The hub of the investment opportunities included 38 projects and investment opportunities such as the medical supplies, plastics, mining, metallic minerals, non-metallic minerals, petrochemicals, and others. While the investment projects and opportunities were divided into 14 investment opportunities in the sectors of health, services, waste management and minerals, and 24 investment projects, of 12 which are ready and 12 are under development. As well as a magnesium compounds factory, a sodium sulfate factory, a bromine compounds factory, in addition to a lithium compounds factory, a potassium compounds factory, a fish farming factory, a sodium carbonate factory, and the establishing of a water bottling plant.
The Future Industries
The outputs of the discussion in the hub of the future industries have come out of highlighting the importance of developing green industrial cities and smart cities. The initiative to implement the concept of circular economy in industrial cities by defining an industrial city to become a model, raising energy efficiency in these cities, and developing them by promoting smart city applications and circular economy initiatives, addressing the challenges facing factories in the targeted industrial cities by reducing their operational costs, in addition to enabling and supporting them in addressing some of the challenges they face in exporting to foreign markets, which impose fees and taxes on these companies in the event that the energy used in the operations is not green.
The same hub also included the importance of enabling factories towards keeping up with the fourth industrial revolution by finding new production lines, reducing production costs and raising the efficiency of factories, which will contribute to focusing on supporting Omani exports and enhancing the trade balance, raising the efficiency of the local product and enhancing Omani exports, as well as reducing dependence on unskilled labor and replacing them with creating new job opportunities for Omani youth ,which to be linked to modern technologies.
Five agreements to enhance the industrial sector , signed
As part of the outputs of The Manufacturing Industries and Future Industries Laboratory, the celebration cermny by the Omani Industry Day also included signing of five agreement to enhance the industerial sector in the Sultanate of Oman . these agreements included the Establishing a salt production plant, between the Ministry of Commerce , Industry and Investment Promotion and Al-Baraka Petrochemical Salts Company to extract salt from the Al-Lakbi area in Al-Wusta Governorate, with a production capacity of ( 4) million tons, to rise to (7 )million tons of salts annually. The project area is estimated at 187.23 hectares. This agreement was signed by HE Dr. Saleh bin Said Masan, Undersecretary of MoCIIP for Commerce and Industry, on the Ministry's side, and Abdual-Ridha Mohammad Haramati, CEO of Al-Baraka Petrochemical Salts Company.
A memorandum of understanding was also signed between OQ company the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn) to develop an area for the manufacturing of semi-finished and fully manufactured plastic products (plastic complex) with high added value . This agreement was signed by Hamad bin Hamoud Al Qassabi, CEO of the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn), and Hilal bin Ali Al Kharusi. Chief Executive Commercial & Downstream at OQ,
The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority and the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn) signed a cooperation program to set prefabricated factory complex project. The cooperation program aims at supporting small and medium enterprises, providing facilities and incentives for them in the project, and allocating suitable sites for the project in all industrial and linked cities. This agreement was signed by Hamad bin Hamoud Al-Qasabi, CEO of the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (Madayn) and Abdulaziz Al Risi , Vice President of SME Authority .
An agreement on a program to empower the Omani factories with the technologies of Fourth Industrial Revolution was signed between the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion and the Industrial Innovation Academy. The program aims at analyzing the status of some factories and financing them to add production lines equipped with the latest advanced technologies and modern methods related to the automation of processes and manufacturing, and building a house of expertise and an incubator for the applications of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in order to achieve real value on models of factories in various industrial fields. This agreement signed by HE Saleh bin Said Masan, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion for Commerce and Industry on the Ministry's side. And Dr. Ayman bin Abdullah Al-Fudaili, CEO of the Industrial Innovation Academy.
An agreement on the Green smart industrial cities initiative was signed between the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates "Madayn" and the Oman Investment and Development Holding Company , in order to find effective, balanced and flexible systems to protect the environment and sustain its natural resources and to support the national economy by applying the concept of circular economy and creating smart industrial cities with green and sustainable energy, through using various types of renewable energy that contribute to cost reduction in productive sectors. This agreement was signed by Hamad bin Hamoud Al Qassabi, CEO of (Madayn), and Mustafa bin Maqbool Al Lawati, CEO of Oman Investment and Development Holding Company (Mubadara).
Unified number for Omani products
The celebration ceremony of the Omani Industry Day also included the launching of the launching of Oman Barcoding Centre (GSI Oman) , which obtained the membership of the Global Organization for Barcoding GSI, where the number of 607 was identified as a unified barcode number for Omani products
Commenting on this event , Badr bin Saif Al-Amiri, CEO of Oman Barcoding Centre, said: The operations at (GSI Oman) began on the first of last August to increase the in –Country added value of products, and raising the competitiveness of factories, whether in the local or global markets, since most countries require a "barcode" for the products to enter their markets. So this step will strengthen the capabilities of Omani products to reach various global markets and will contribute to increase exports and a sale of the products of those companies in a way that enhances the Omani national economy, as well as it is in line with Oman's vision 2040."
Badr Al-Amiri added that the barcoding numbering system is an important system, as it contributes to facilitate the sales process, both by providing data on the consumption of products and enabling the seller to cover his needs of goods in warehouses faster and easier through the statistics provided by the numbering on the quantity of sales and supplies as well as facilitating the process of accounting and calculating prices when purchasing for the consumer.
Praising the progress and growth achieved by the industrial sector
In coinciding with the Sultanate of Oman’s celebration by the Omani Industry Day, a number of businessmen in the industrial sector praised the progress and growth achieved by the industrial sector, while they appreciated the supportive policies , which aim at enhancing the sector’s revenues, within the framework of plans to maximize dependence on non-oil revenues.
They stressed that the industrial sector in the Sultanate of Oman was able over the past years of the blessed renaissance, to achieve various gains, as a result of the direct and indirect support that the sector received from the concerned government authorities.
Officials and businessmen emphasized that, these achievements considered as part of the results of the initiatives and the simulative programs adopted by the government to encourage the sector to achieve distinguished levels of development and growth in terms of quality, achieving spread and competitiveness, and adopting technical solutions in all stages of production, which led to raising contributions of the sector in the gross domestic product.
Eng. Salim bin Nasser Al-Burtamani, CEO of REEJ Vegetable Oils & Derivatives SAOC, said that the celebration of the Omani Industry Day has a great importance for the manufactures in the Sultanate of Oman, while it is considered as a forum for discussing the development of the sector and the challenges it faces within the framework of the keenness of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion to find solutions to these challenges through consulting with the manufacturers, experts and specialists in the sector.
He added that the importance of this day increases with the position occupied by the industrial sector in the national economy, since the sector is one of the tributaries of economic diversification policies in Oman’s vision 2040 , in addition to the role that the sector plays in revitalizing other sectors, hence the choice of local content to be A title for the celebration of the Omani Industry Day this year has been adopted for the importance of the role of local content, whether through purchases of production supplies that give priority to the Omani product, or through creating business opportunities for small and medium enterprises and entrepreneurs.
Eng. Salim bin Nasser Al-Burtamani also expressed his appreciations to the efforts of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion in overcoming the difficulties and challenges facing manufacturers and exporters, whether in the Gulf markets or other markets.
For His part , Engineer Khamis bin Mohammad Al-Alawi, General Manager of the General Company for Leather Industries, said that the industrial sector is a major tributary for the economic after the oil and gas sector.
He added that the efforts of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry and investment promotion come through offering a number of investment opportunities in the industrial sector, based on its great keenness to diversify investment in this sector and achieve the objectives of Oman’s vision 2040, while MoCIIP has set bold goals in the industrial strategic 2040, including increasing the volume of the industrial sector from RO ( 3 )billion In 2020 to RO (20 ) billion 2040.