At the launch function, Oliver Cornock (pictured), OBG Regional Editor, who oversaw the team of OBG analysts in their preparation of The Report, said: “The Sultanate continues on its all important diversification track with a background of domestic stability and strong economic growth. Significantly, non-oil exports have been steadily rising, indicating that the economic reform and liberalisation are beginning to bear fruit.”
“Oman is supremely well situated to benefit from east-west trade. Not only is it looking to expand ports and logistics services to serve this trade, it is also increasing its own exports to meet the growing demand from China and other Asian emerging giants. “Anyone who has been lucky enough to travel in Oman, as I have, cannot fail to be impressed by its stunning natural beauty.
It is therefore no surprise that tourism is being pegged as an important aspect of the Sultanate’s diversification aims. Visitor figures have topped 1 million consistently for the past three years, and steady growth should give the industry the room to develop and become an important revenue stream, as well as employer, for the long-term.
Continuing investment in education and training should mean that the process of Omanisation becomes easier. This, coupled with the government’s commitment to private sector development, to continuing economic reform, and to seeking foreign investment all point towards a healthy future for Oman,” he added.
Produced for the fourth year running in partnership with Omani Centre for Investment Promotion and Export Development (Ociped), The Report, rated as the most authoritative guide to the Sultanate’s vibrant economy, is an invaluable guide to the many facets of Oman, which presents a remarkably in-depth profile of its macroeconomics, infrastructure, political landscape, banking and sectoral developments.
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has contributed an exclusive viewpoint, focusing on his efforts to lead Oman to a more prosperous future through modernisation, while Maqbool bin Ali Sultan, Minister of Commerce and Industry, profiles the increase in non-oil exports through a successful Oman government strategy, which has concentrated developments on thrust sectors that now account for more than 63 per cent of the total.
An assertion that tourism provides a vital area for diversification is made by Zivad M al Zubair, Director of Zubair Corporation, who stresses the many unique features in Oman for tourism development. The Report also features a series of exclusive interviews with key officials and business leaders, including Frank Chapman, Chairman, British Gas, John Malcolm, Managing Director, Petroleum Development Oman, and Hans Smits, CEO and President of the Port of Rotterdam, in what is considered the most extensive, independent, unbiased and accurate intelligence available.
In a specially designated “regions” section it has an exclusive, in-depth profile of Sohar and Salalah, which focuses on the intense development which has taken place around the ports, which are regarded as the crown jewels of the Sultanate’s industrial port infrastructure.
The publication has an international circulation of 72,400, with 25 per cent of its subscribers in financial institutions, 20 per cent in energy companies, 19 per cent in information technology and telecommunications, and 9 per cent in real estate and construction. 23 per cent of them are in North America, 20 per cent in Europe, 20 per cent in GCC countries, 15 per cent in North Africa and the Levant, and 15 per cent in Asia.
The Report: Oman 2008 has been produced by a team of six OBG analysts based for six months in Muscat, where they conducted some two hundred interviews with the Sultanate’s leading political and economic figures. Available in print form and online, it is part of the range of OBG’s publications, which are renowned as leading sources of information on developing and emerging economies around the world.
