Ministry plans to boost manufacturing sector

Muscat: Oman’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry is developing policies to improve the country’s manufacturing sector as part of its aims towards Vision 2040, the Sultanate’s long-term plan to develop a sustainable, diversified economy in the future.
The ministry’s efforts will be carried out in two stages, the first being meeting organisations involved in the manufacturing sector to see how they could adopt modern technologies to help Oman grow its non-oil sector. The second phase will see the ministry create policies to bring in these technologies into the manufacturing sector and put this into action. Commenting on this, Sami bin Salem Al Saheb, the Director General of Industry at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said, “The second phase of the manufacturing strategy reviews the fifteen policy areas which focus on how and when manufacturing priorities can be achieved. This is in line with the process of preparing the tenth five-year plan under the supervision of the Supreme Council for Planning.
“The Ministry of Commerce and Industry is keeping an eye of the required measures, work plan and timeframe for development of the manufacturing sector as part of Oman’s Vision 2040,” he added. “The first stage of the manufacturing strategy was meant for setting priorities for manufacturing through knowledge-based industries, using advanced technology across industries which have capital and resources, and enabling factors for governance as well as available technological and human capital to help in the achievement of these priorities.”
As part of this, training programmes and educational schemes run by organisations such as Madayn, Riyada, and Al Raffd Fund for SMEs, as well as the National Training Fund, would help develop the capabilities of employees who will be working in the country’s manufacturing sector.
Ali bin Saif Al-Hadi, Director of Planning and Industrial Studies at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, said, “Technology and human capital are among three main requirements of the manufacturing strategy for 2040. The ministry encourages the use of advanced technology to enhance workforce productivity. This has already helped in improvement of research and development capabilities in universities, in recent years and led to distinguished researches.
A prominent example of the encouragement policy of the ministry is the Centre for Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre, Oman at Sohar University and the Centre for Industrial Innovation and Innovation Initiatives led by the Research Council through the EJAAD platform.
EJAAD is an electronic platform for cooperation between the industrial, academic and research sectors in the area of energy.
“This policy would open up more horizons for the Sultanate of Oman,” added Al Hadi. “The country will be able to benefit from the opportunities being created by the fourth industrial revolution, access the public infrastructure for research and innovation, and play an important role in laying the foundation for advanced industrialisation. It will ultimately strengthen the capabilities of innovativeness and productivity of the industries of the Sultanate.