Muscat: The Oman Development Bank (ODB), a pioneer of Oman in development financing, held a meeting of its executive board with the managers of various departments, branches, units and sections in Hotel Sheraton on Sunday.
In the meeting, the implementation of the operational plan and annual budget approved by the board of directors were discussed. This was to strengthen the efforts aimed for development financing for products and services projects which have added value and matches with the government's plans for diversification of the economy, support to national investments at all levels in various economic sectors and governorates of the Sultanate.
The meeting was aimed to apprise the officials about the ODB of the development plan for the year 2020 for which there is a planning of total development finance of OMR80 million. This is part of investment initiatives for the product and services sector.
The meeting also discussed the performance of the bank during 2019, as well as the plans of various departments for training of its employees to increase their skills as the bank wants to meet its goals to match the requirements of the development financing in the future.
The annual meeting also had deliberations on the employment plans for the coming year to meet the needs of the ODB for skilled employees during expansion.
The executive board also listened to the proposals of the managers of the branches to meet the goals of the bank and the approach of the board of directors regarding this. The executive board and the officials of various departments and branches exchanged views about the improvement of performance in future.
The ODB has 18 branches in various governorates of the Sultanate. It has regional branches in various governorates. The number of its employees has reached 261 and the Omanisation achieved is 99 per cent.
At the end of the annual meeting of the managers and officials of the ODB, a seminar was held on 'Fourth Industrial Revolution' to increase the awareness of the employees and managers about the latest technological developments which could help their work.
The seminar organised by the information technology department of the ODB discussed several issues related to industrial relations, technical transformation, production lines, mechanical operations, artificial intelligence and cybersecurity.