3rd Oman Economic Forum to begin tomorrow

By Rizwan Khatik - Sat Apr 21, 7:33 am

MUSCAT The third Oman Economic Forum (OEF) will kick off on Sunday at Al Bustan Palace, A Ritz Carlton Hotel. The two-day event, which is organised by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry & Al Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group, focus on enriching the national wealth.

The opening ceremony of the forum, which will be held under the patronage of HH?Sayyid Asa’ad Bin Tariq Al Said in the presence of other ministers, public and private officials, will be attended by over 500 participants including investors, businessmen and decision-makers from oil, energy, commerce and banking sectors, apart from representatives of international companies and commercial and Islamic banks.

The opening session will include speeches by HE Eng. Ali Bin Masoud Al Sunaidy, Commerce and Industry Minister, Fouad Al Siniora, former Lebanese prime minister, Tony Blair, former UK prime minister, and Raouf Abu Zaki, CEO of Al Iktissad Wal-Aamal Group. The forum will have total six sessions.

The first session, Oman: Moving into the Next Phase of Development, will discuss vision 2020 in light of new economic and political changes and development priorities, fiscal policies for boosting growth and increasing investments, developing the business and investment environment and means of attracting foreign investments and the mechanisms required to increase the GDP and diversity sources of income.

The second session will be on investment opportunities ties in the Al Duqm project.  The third session will be on the prospects of the banking and financial industry. The session will give an overview of the banking environment such as challenges faced by banks, available opportunities, Oman banks and Basel III requirements, horizons of Islamic banking and the role of capital markets in new projects.  The fourth session on developing small and medium enterprises will focus on status and challenges of SMEs in the Sultanate.

The fifth session on the outlook of industry and industrial estates will zero in on the role of gas as contributor to increasing investment size in heavy industries, the role of the Sultanate in maintaining the thrust in the petrochemical and basic industries and the outlook of petrochemical industry in the Sultanate.

The sixth session on developing oil and gas will look into plans to develop oil and gas sector , EOR schemes, technical challenges, benefiting from dormant reservoirs, upcoming tenders in heavy industries and petrochemical sector, role of international oil companies and the opportunities for the private sector.