Addressing an annual session of the Council of Oman, comprising the nominated State Council and the elected Majlis Ash’shura, Sultan Qaboos said that the Sultanate had succeeded in protecting itself from the global economic meltdown.
He said human resources development would continue to receive the highest priority from the country’s authorities, and expressed hope that next month’s GCC summit in Muscat would be a success. “Good government performance in the different sectors, serving the country and citizens with honesty and dedication and putting public interest over all other considerations are the necessary pillars for any sustainable development,” Sultan Qaboos said.
He underlined the need for a ‘constant revision’ of the government administrative system to ensure simplification and facilitation of procedures, “thus expediting the decision making process in the interests of citizens and residents who are contributing to the service of Oman and assisting in its building.”
The government’s performance in laying down the groundwork for sustainable development, he observed, relied on those carrying out their duties, as well as on their supervisors. This, the Omani ruler stressed, placed ‘a huge responsibility on the shoulders of employees who are entrusted with the work in the different government sectors.’
If they carried out their work ‘in an honest manner and with a spirit of responsibility, away from personal interests, then they would be happy and so would their country.’
But if they strayed from the ‘right path’ and considered the job as a means to “achieving personal gains, influence and power and they linger in carrying out their duties in complete honesty and dedication,” they would be held accountable and legal procedures taken against them.
No one would be allowed to be above law and order or to unlawfully affect the “interests of our people as guaranteed by the state as well as the interests of the community which is protected by legislation and supported by our laws and regulations.”
Sultan Qaboos underscored that enforcement of justice was ‘imperative and inevitable’, adding that the country’s monitoring mechanism was ‘alert and dedicated’ to carrying out its duties and responsibilities “in order to safeguard the country’s achievements.”
Turning to the global economic turmoil, he said policies adopted by the government in recent years had contributed to averting its effects on Oman’s economy.
He added the Sultanate would go ahead with its development policies, also calling for more efforts to diversify sources of income. “It is also necessary to look into ways of benefiting from alternative energy resources and to seek ways of achieving food security as much as possible. In this regard we have given our orders to the concerned authorities to set up appropriate plans,” Sultan Qaboos said. Stressing that the “human element is the maker of a renaissance and the builder of a civilisation,” he said the government would not spare any effort to provide “our human resources with all the help they will need to develop, hone and train.
