Monday 20 / May / 2024
Muscat: During his reign, the late His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said bin Taimour honoured important occasions in the Sultanate and overseas with Royal Speeches that shed light on the development of the country.
Late Sultan Qaboos speeches involved him thanking citizens and praising various public and private offices to ensure continued growth and prosperity for the Sultanate. Here are some of the most important excerpts from his speeches.
23 July, 1970: To his people on the day of his accession
I promise you to proceed forthwith in the process of creating a modern government. My first act will be the immediate abolition of all the unnecessary restrictions on your lives and activities.
My people, I will proceed as quickly as possible to transform your life into a prosperous one with a bright future. Every one of you must play his part towards this goal. Our country in the past was famous and strong.
If we work in unity and co-operation, we will regenerate that glorious past and we will take a respectable place in the world.
Yesterday it was complete darkness and with the help of God, tomorrow will be a new dawn on Muscat, Oman and its people.
23 July, 1971: On the occasion of the 1st National Day
Today, we are happy to join you in celebrating the completion of the first year of the new era, which the entire Omani people received with delight and to which they gave their unconditional support.
Wherever we have been in our dear country our people have welcomed us with expressions of allegiance and loyalty. It therefore behooves us to thank them and press steadfastly on with our efforts to raise their living standards and improve all the utilities and services they require.
The community must be aware of the achievements and gains that have been made on behalf of this people and this ancient land during the first year of our new era.
These took place as a result of sincere, combined efforts inspired by good intentions, chief among which was the desire to bring progress to this country and enable it to occupy the exalted position that is its due.
26 May, 1981: The closing session of the first GCC summit
At this brotherly gathering we all have the right to feel proud that we have decided upon a basis for joint action that will not only help us to achieve our agreed objectives, but will also embody the strong ties that exist between our states.
We have emerged from our meetings with a number of documents.
These will form the framework within which we shall work for constructive, fruitful co-operation that will benefit our people, our region, our Arab and Islamic nation, and mankind as a whole.
We have thus taken our first step along the path. There are still many more steps and much hard work ahead of us before we can translate these documents into hard reality - that is, before they are able to bring happiness to our people and satisfy our clear desire for greater co-ordination, integration and association in all fields.
9 November, 1986: The opening ceremony of Sultan Qaboos University
The university has the particular responsibility to preserve Omani values and traditions and to preserve the valiant and exemplary Omani heritage as an incentive to our young people to serve their country by carrying forward what has been achieved in the past.
We look forward to seeing the theoretical and applied research of the university in the service of Oman and in developing solutions to our social and economic concerns.
We live in an age of science and education. Education and work are our only means of progress and development within the context of our Islamic civilisation. It is your duty to bear this in mind and to work wholeheartedly for your graduation so that you may serve Oman well, your motherland.
2 June, 1992: At the UN Conference on Environment and Development
As human beings co-existing on this planet we have gravely neglected the vital necessity of conserving the environment and natural resources due to the lack of collective co-ordination.
Indeed, we have taken a potentially fatal opposing course of luxury and industrial progress, regardless of the resulting imbalance between development and the environment, and without taking into account the dire consequences of the effects upon the atmosphere and the ozone layer, river and sea water, the extermination of certain species, the destruction of forests, and the contamination of once fertile soil.
Should this continue, humanity will court collective suicide. The conservation of the environment is the responsibility of all of us, a responsibility that knows no political boundaries.
Therefore, man, wherever he lives, must contribute to this conservation and must order his life accordingly. This must be done in a planned, rational way and taking into consideration the numerous causes of pollution, whether natural, biological, industrial, chemical or physical.
30 January, 1995: To the dignitaries of Dhofar during his meet the people tour
The citizen should not refuse to accept work, when there are job opportunities in various sectors - particularly in the private sector which is full of job opportunities - and which still depend upon the expatriate workforce.
The citizen serves himself first and by doing so, he serves his country. If he is an active, productive member of his society, he benefits himself and his society. And if he is unproductive and unemployed, he harms himself and his society. Moreover, he will become a burden on the community and will depend on others.
In the Sultanate of Oman, we must purify ourselves. We must not fall sick and then seek treatment; we must apply the doctrine of prevention is better than cure. All that we have already said and say and stress now is solely a part of our keenness on prevention against a situation in which we already find ourselves. We therefore say if only we had done so, or if only we hadn’t done so.
4 May, 2001: During the occasion of Sultan Qaboos Grand Mosque
We decided to make this blessed mosque a centre of culture and thought that, with God’s good grace and assistance, would contribute to the revival of the Islamic heritage – God willing – and highlight the civilized values of the Muslim nation while modernising its approach to dealing with Islamic affairs and issues.
In doing so, the aim was to safeguard the nation’s identity, principles and values while at the same time keeping abreast of the advances taking place in the different spheres of human life. As a first step along this long path that we need to take in order to achieve our goal, several essential items have been provided for this new religious and cultural institution.
We believe we have thus put in place a strong building block that will enable it to play its part in the community and – God willing - develop its role over the years in an intellectually aware manner, enhanced by a new understanding.
4 October, 2005: During the 33rd session of the UNESCO General Conference
In calling for the dissemination of knowledge, regeneration of human heritage, encouragement of innovation and cultural diversification, addressing challenges facing the environment and improving water resources, UNESCO raises issues which are of the greatest concern to humankind.
Human beings are always the target of nations’ development programmes and, as such, they enjoy the gains it offers them. Human beings are also, however, the tools of development. It is human beings who make development plans and programmes a tangible reality.
In this respect, we are committed to providing women with opportunities to play a productive role in Oman’s society. We have, therefore, endorsed the Sultanate of Oman’s membership of the Convention for the Elimination of All Types of Discrimination Against Women.
18 December 2010: On the opening of Sultan Qaboos University’s Cultural Centre
We have always stressed the importance of science and knowledge and keeping pace with their developments with all possible means, with an active brain, on the bases of thinking and experience to take what is useful and leave what is useless.
We seek to invigorate your efforts to make valuable additions to this field. Whatever progress made by hard workers, still it is nothing compared to the vast sea of science.
Our stress on the useful science emanates from our belief that it is the right springboard for acquiring knowledge, expertise and skills that enable the current and future generations to contribute positively to the service of their homeland and society and meet the needs of development in a guided manner. We have accorded education our full care.
13 November 2012: Before the Council of Oman
You definitely know that Oman was once in great need of development in all fields and you understand that, in order to achieve the goal of human and social development in all areas of the Sultanate, it has been necessary to establish solid infrastructure on which the development plans and programmes will be based.
This is particularly true in the fields of education, health, training and employment. Without infrastructure, human and social development would not have reached the population in cities, towns, villages, plains and mountains, and in the deep valleys and the vast deserts.
The past plans of development, despite the widespread area of Oman and its harsh geographical terrain, have gone a long way, and this has led to the transformation of life in this country and facilitated the implementation of development programmes — both social and human.
Source: The Royal Speeches of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said bin Taimour, Ministry of Information, 2015
