Workforce in the Private Sector

Muscat, January 11 (ONA)---The number of national manpower employed at the private sector's establishments during 2007 stood at 62415.

Mahfoudh bin Hamdan al Wahaibi, deputy director-general of employment at the Manpower Ministry told Oman News Agency (ONA) that the number of university degree holders who were employed in the private sector stood at 2018, holders of diploma at 2235 and holders of the secondary school certificate at 22,104.

5291 Omanis were employed in Oil and Gas sector, 2169 in Finance & Insurance sectors, 7487 in Industry sector, 7575 in Travel and Tourism Service sector, 20,590 in Contracting sector and 11,783 in Trade sector.

Al Wahaibi, attributed the rise in the number of national manpower to the genuine partnership between the public and private sectors and earnest desire of young Omanis to join the Omani private sector which is looking for qualified young Omanis.

A number of jobs are available at the Manpower Ministry in economic and service sectors for all occupational and educational levels. They include technical, administrative and hospitality field either through direct recruitment or training coupled with recruitment or investment in the ventures funded by "Sanad" programmes. Omani youth who are interested to work in the private sector may apply to the Manpower offices at the different parts of the Sultanate.

He said, the number of young Omanis employed at the private sector had increased in the past years, in response to His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said's directives and owing to the economic boom in the Sultanate, as well as, the economic ventures being implemented in the Sultanate.
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Certificates of Tender Deposit Results

Muscat, January 11 (ONA)---Certificates of tender deposit (issues No. 458) was held at the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) this week. The total amount allotted was RO. 345.5 million.

A bulletin issued by the CBO stated that the average accepted interest rate of these certificates was 1.55% while the maximum accepted interest rate was 1.73%. The tenor of these certificates is 28 days so their maturity date is on 2nd February 2008.

The certificates of deposit issued to licensed banks by the CBO as a monetary policy instrument aimed at absorbing excess liquidity at the banking sector in particular and maintaining stability of the interest rate and the money market in general. The Repo on re-purchase operations for the period from Jan 9th to Jan 15th is 5.51%.
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International Conference on Exchange Traded Funds

Muscat, January 11 (ONA)-- Muscat Securities Market (MSM), in collaboration with Dow Jones Institute (DJI), will organise an international conference on Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) on forthcoming Monday.

The opening ceremony of the conference will be held under the auspices of Maqbool bin Ali bin Sultan, Minister of Commerce and Industry and Chairman of Capital Market Authority (CMA).

The conference is aimed at introducing the ETFs, their setting up, emergence in the AGCC countries, advantages and how to encourage the financial institutions in the Sultanate to establish such funds which meet the needs of investors especially these funds have the lowest risks compared to other financial tools.

The conference also aimed at placing MSM on investment map and highlighting the government interest in attracting foreign investments to the Sultanate. A number of experts will take part in the conference.
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Standards and Specifications / Seminar

Muscat, January 11 (ONA)-----The first introductory seminar on standards and specifications will kick-off tomorrow (Saturday) at the Directorate General of Standards and Specifications under the auspices of Eng. Ahmed bin Hassan Al Dheeb, Undersecretary for Commerce and Industry at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry .

The seminar is aimed at raising awareness of the importance of standards and specifications and its role the Directorate General of Standards and Specifications of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry.

The seminar will cover the importance of calibrations and measurement in addition to the role of laboratories in protecting consumers. It will also highlight the role of quality control, standardization department, accreditation department and the role of the National Center for Inquiry and Information Point.
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Rusayl Industrial Estate /Expansions

Muscat, January 11 (ONA)-Eng. Hamad bin Salim al Harthy, Director General of Rusail Industrial Estate (RIE) said that the region has acquired about 200,000 square meters new expansions at Al Misfat area to meet the growing needs of the investors who are interested to set up their projects at the RIE during the
forthcoming period.

In a statement to Oman News Agency (ONA), al Harthy said that the survey for the new expansion and additions which is expected to be acquired from the Ministry of Housing in addition to the 97,000 square meters is underway. The aim of this survey is to identify the number of land plots that will be included in the new expansion so that they can be distributed according to sectors, utilities, services and infrastructure that will be set up in the expansion area, he explained.

Discussions related to getting the land plot behind the Food Reserve Stores of the Ministry of Defence (300,000sq meters) and annex it to Rusayl Industrial Estate is underway, he added.

The total area of Rusayl Industrial Estate is currently 320 hectares, accommodating 140 factories that exports their different products to the AGCC markets and various countries of the world, he noted.

More than 15 factories are now making expansions for their production, equipment and land size. All the factories at the RIE went beyond the Omanization imposed rates (35%) with some of them reaching more than 55%.
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OCCI takes part at Khartoum International Fair

Muscat, January 11 (ONA)---Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) will take part this year at a number of trade exhibitions that will be held in a number of Arab countries to promote and market the Omani products and industry.

OCCI will take part on January 23rd 2008 at Khartoum International Fair that will be held in Sudan and runs through February 1st 2008, said Sabah bin Abdul Ameer bin Ali, Director of the Specialized Committee at OCCI.

In a statement to Oman News Agency (ONA), Sabah said that 12 Omani companies that produce foodstuffs, detergents, batteries, leather products and plastics, will take part at the exhibition.

OCCI will have a stand at the exhibition to display the publications and booklets on the investment opportunities and laws in addition to the incentives provided by the Sultanate government to foreign investors, he added.

OCCI is keen to take part at the exhibition every year to promote for the Omani products, open new markets for such products and increase the trade exchange volume and Omani exports to Sudanese and African markets, he furthered.
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Bilateral meetings between Omani and Sudanese Exporters

Muscat, January 11 (ONA)---The Omani Center for Investment Promotion and Exports Development (OCIPED) will organized on January 22nd 2008 bilateral meetings between the Omani and Sudanese companies .

OCIPED in collaboration with Bank Muscat this week held the second preparatory meeting to coordinate the bilateral meetings. Twelve exporting Omani companies in addition to respective personnel representing the Directorate General for Exports Development at OCIPED and Bank Muscat confirmed their participation at the meetings.

Ayman Ambusaidi, Director of Exports Development Department at OCIPED said that the Center has requested the services of the World Trade Center in Geneva and the Representative of the WT Center in Sudan to identify the Sudanese importers and invite them to attend the bilateral meetings. He also hoped that the Omani exporting companies would benefit from the bilateral meetings and increase their exports .

The Sudanese market has good potential for the Omani products especially the non Oil exports of Omani origin to Sudan stood at $30 million in 2006 against $0.8 million in 2001, a 106% annual growth, he added.

Last year, OCIPED has prepared a marketing study on the Sudanese market and the exports opportunities for the Omani products. It also organized a seminar in Muscat for the Omani exporters under the theme 'export to Sudan', he furthered.
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Projects Development / Gulf Forum

Kuwait, January 11 (ONA)-- The first Gulf forum on the development of projects under the theme "projects between reality and practice ............ successes and failures", will be held in Kuwait on Monday .

The forum aims at discussing the reality of the projects in a bid to develop the leaderships of the different ventures especially the size of ventures is considerably growing especially at GCC countries in various spheres.

The forum will discuss a number of issues related human resources development, achieving investment outcomes from the already implemented or planned projects. Three axis for venture implementation will be discussed including achieving the investment aims, expense control, time management......visions and trends in dealing with the different aspects of management, developing the ventures on governmental, private and occupational level, developing the procedures and regulations related to management and development of ventures and encouraging their applications, in addition to introducing the technology used in managing and developing project.

The forum targets the administrative and technical leadership, directors, CEOs, GM, Deputy GMs, sectors heads at public, oil sectors and private establishments, officials in charge of development and investment projects, planners, senior engineers, programmers, consultants, supervisors and projects maintenance managers.

The first Gulf Forum for ventures development will be a threshold for establishing a professional body for the administrative and technical leaderships at the GCC countries; especially these countries share the same social and economic issues.
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