Inter-active meeting to be held on Thursday to mark industry day

Muscat: Oman will celebrate the country’s ‘Industry Day’ on Thursday, which marks His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said’s visit to the Rusayl Industrial Estate on February 9, 1991.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is celebrating the occasion by holding an open meeting between the Minister of Commerce and Industry, industrialists and officials.
The meeting aims at closely reviewing the most important developments of interest to the industrial sector in the Sultanate, listening to opinions of industrialists on major challenges and obstacles that hinder the industrial sector.
The meeting also aims at discussing solutions and proposals for the development of the industrial sector, reviewing the challenges and issues facing the industrial sector and investors. Further, the meeting seeks to address such issues and respond to the inquiries that fall within the scope of the ministry and referring them to specialists to be followed up by those entities to find appropriate solutions to overcome such obstacles.
The annual meeting of the Minister of Commerce and Industry with industrialists is a good opportunity to review the challenges facing the industrial sector and highlighting the obstacles facing investors in the Sultanate, as well as endeavouring to overcome obstacles and find appropriate solutions for the advancement of the Omani industries.
Said bin Saleh Al Kiyoumi, chairman of Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), stressed the importance of marking the Oman Industry Day, the day that marks the visit of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to Al Rusayl Industrial Estate. The Rusayl Industrial Estate was the first industrial zone that has been provided with integrated facilities and services in the Sultanate.
The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is working on raising value addition in the industrial sector in order to promote the potential local industry nationally and internationally.
Eng. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al Hadaby, head of the economic committee in Shura Council, said that the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is working on the challenges that face industry and other sectors.
The industrial sector is divided into two sectors. The first one is mining sector, which depends on mining primary material and natural resources. Second is converting sector, which transforms the primary material into more useful material for industry in gross domestic product.
Over the past four years, it was 10to 11 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. This percentage is reasonably good because the in the future vision of Oman2020, the industrial sector contribution is 15 per cent of the gross domestic product.
The ninth five-year plan aims at an investment of OMR41 billion during the plan period.