Muscat: A delegation from the Sultanate visited the United States to strengthen the Omani-American relations and open new horizons for cooperation in the information technology sector as well as to discover tech advancements that can contribute to the Omani economic growth and create investment and business opportunities for interested parties.
During the visit in Seattle, the Information Technology Authority signed a strategic collaboration on Fourth Industrial Revolution Technologies with Microsoft. Dr Al Ruzaiqi and Shaikh Saif Hilal al Hosni, Country General Manager — Oman and Bahrain from Microsoft, signed the agreement.
The delegation is represented by a number of officials from a number of government entities including the Information Technology Authority, Telecommunication Regulatory Authority, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, and Public Establishment for Industrial Estate and Duqm Free Zone.
Ahmed bin Hassan al Dheeb, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, headed the delegation, accompanied by Dr Salim Sultan al Ruzaiqi and some ITA board members and officials, as well as representatives from other entities.
The visit aimed to explore and highlight the investment opportunities in Seattle and San Francisco (Silicon Valley), through a number of workshops specified for the critical investment key projects including Duqm Free Zone. The first workshop was delivered in Seattle with the presence of Honor Cyrus Habib, Lieutenant Governor, State of Washington, and David Hamod, President and CEO of the National US chamber of commerce.
Al Dheeb delivered a speech in the workshop emphasising that the Sultanate’s future economic development vision focuses on diversification of the economy from reliance on oil and gas towards industry, tourism, logistics, agriculture and fisheries, and mining.
Dr Salim Sultan al Ruzaiqi, CEO of ITA, presented a detailed presentation focusing on the Sultanate’s readiness and infrastructure generally and in the IT sector specifically. He highlighted the importance of the critical infrastructure in the investment, “Oman’s location, political stability, legislative environment, our openness and welcoming nature, readiness of national workforce, entrepreneurship and startup drive, telecom connectivity and ICT infrastructure makes our country a main investment hub in ICT.”
The Duqm Economic Special Zone Authority representative, Saleh Hamood al Hasani, Director-General of Investment Services, presented the smart city project that will be implemented in the Duqm Free Zone and the other economic projects.
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