Sunday 19 / May / 2024
Muscat: The delegation accompanying His Highness Sayyid Bilarab bin Haitham Al Said, Honorary President of the Programme for Promising Omani Start-ups, visited specialised institutions and centres in the Swiss Confederation.
While visiting Novartis and Roche Pharmaceutical Industries, the two pioneering companies in the field of pharmaceutical industries and scientific research in the world, the delegation learned about their work culture and the advanced technologies used in production of medicines.
In addition to close cooperation with a number of private health institutions, ways of establishing clusters data processing units in the Sultanate of Oman and methods of attracting investors to them were discussed and the companies affirmed their commitment to expand in the Sultanate of Oman, employ Omani competencies and expertise and give them scholarships and provide training through programmes.
The meeting concluded with an invitation to the company to visit the Sultanate of Oman to hold workshops to bring together experts in the pharmaceutical manufacturing sector, and to activate cooperation with the Ministry of Health.
The delegation was briefed on the innovative products and modern technologies used by the two companies and their continuous efforts to manufacture and innovate new medicines.
Ways to enhance cooperation with small and medium enterprises and emerging companies in this promising sector, and to develop the business environment, were highlighted during the visit. The delegation also held a meeting with Seedstars, which is one of the world’s leading institutions in supporting startups through business accelerators and investment programmes in high-growth companies in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Asia. A discussion was held on ways to cooperate with the promising Omani startups programme.
The delegation concluded its visits with a tour of the business centres and joint work offices (Impact Hub) and got acquainted with a group of Swiss startups to benefit from their experiences and ways of transferring knowledge and technology to the Sultanate of Oman.
It is worth noting that Novartis has legal representation in 140 countries around the world, including an office in the Sultanate of Oman, where a memorandum of understanding was signed with the Ministry of Health in 2019, and then the first workshop was held in the Sultanate of Oman.
