Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

Pre-clearance, 1-Stop-Shop to fuel trade facilitation

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Recent initiatives adopted by the Sultanate to facilitate cross-border trade will underpin Oman’s drive to emerge as a major logistics hub in the region, Dr Ahmed bin Mohammed al Futaisi, Minister of Transport and Communications, announced here yesterday.


Addressing the International Road Transport Union’s (IRU) ‘World Congress’, which opened at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre here, he said the initiatives are set out in an ambitious long-term national logistics strategy designed to propel the Sultanate into the rankings of the world’s Top 10 logistics-friendly destinations by 2040.


The strategy, he said, aims to address deficiencies in what is otherwise Oman’s highly developed infrastructure that is already in place to deliver the nation’s logistics ambitions. “To reach our goal, our experts have advised us that we don’t have to worry too much about our hard infrastructure — our deep-sea ports, impressive roads, airports, and so on; we have it all! But we need to focus on is the remaining 10 – 20 per cent that still needs to be done, which is the soft infrastructure, involving improvements to our IT technology, trade facilitation procedures, human capital, and destination marketing.”


Taking part in a panel discussion moderated by CNN International’s Market Middle East host, John Defterios, Dr Al Futaisi outlined a number of initiatives that he said would help position the Sultanate for success on the logistics front. Pre-clearance, for example, now covers 14 per cent of all cargo coming to the Sultanate — a figure that will be gradually ramped up to cover more volumes of goods, he said. Prec-learance allows for goods to be customs-cleared at seaports even before they arrive at their destination.


Likewise, a One-Stop-Shop that operates 24 hours integrates services that were once provided by the respective agricultural, fisheries, health inspection and quarantine authorities. As a result of the introduction of this service, goods are cleared at ports within a maximum of 10 hours, and at airports within four hours, he said.


Also making a difference to trade facilitation is the appointment of Authorised Economic Operators (AEO). These are importers and cargo forwarding agents who are given special privileges to clear goods if they meet certain criteria set by the Customs authorities.


The Minister credited young Omanis for their role in supporting the speedy implementation of the Oman Logistics Strategy 2040. Around 30 promising young graduates form part of the Oman Logistics Centre set up under the auspices of ASYAD Group to oversee the implementation of the national strategy.


Earlier, in welcome remarks at the start of the IRU World Congress, Dr Al Futaisi underlined Oman’s commitment to working in close collaboration with the global community in the achievement of its strategic aspirations.


“Similar to other countries, Sultanate of Oman has recognised that we should keep pace with development and co-opt the knowledge revolution that is taking place now,” the Minister said.


“The world has embarked on a new technological journey with the evolution of artificial intelligence, robotics, Internet of Things, self-driving cars, 3D printing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, cloud computing, Blockchain among others. Investors, consumers and citizens adopting and using the technologies in their daily life will become partners in the development and production of these technologies.” The Sultanate, he said, has world-class road networks linking ports, free zones, airports and industrial zones, and maintains three deep ports that serve the needs of emerging markets in India, East Africa, Iran and Gulf countries that are fully integrated with its free zones. Besides, Oman has five state-of-the-art airports.


“We work continuously towards augmenting integration with the global economic alliances and facilitating trade in order to enhance road transport ecosystem,” Dr Al Futaisi added.


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