Muscat, March 6 - The State Council discussed on Wednesday the unified law regulating courier and parcel companies forwarded by the Council of Ministers and the report of the Economic Committee. The 7th Regular Session, chaired by Dr Yahya bin Mahfoudh al Mantheri, Chairman of the State Council, held in the presence of the honourable members and the Secretary-General of the Council, also discussed the proposal of the special committee formed to study the promotion of mining industry.
The discussions focused on the proposal of the Committee for Education and Research to study about extending the retirement age of individuals to benefit from their expertise. Shaikh Mohammed bin Abdullah al Harthy, Head of the Economic Committee presented the Committee’s statement on the draft law to regulate courier companies. The explanatory memorandum of the draft law included four main objectives of the project, namely: The unification of laws governing the activity of companies and private institutions working in GCC countries, promotion of coordination, and the protection of the national operator from competition. The explanatory note also contains an account of the different stages of preparation of the draft law on the regulations.
Al Harthy said the Economic Committee discussed the views of both the Majlis Ash’shura and the Legal Committee and agreed with most of them.
The Ministry of Transport and Communications had recommended that the final version of the draft that will be forwarded to the Council of Ministers should be in conformity with the GCC regulations.
The Council then discussed the proposal of the Special Committee formed to study the promotion of the mining industry. Sayyid Dr Said Sultan Hamood al Busaidi, committee head, said: The Sultanate is replete with various mineral resources of high economic value, which can contribute to the national economy if it is better exploited.
The government is seeking to maximise its contribution to the domestic product and adopt it as one of the five promising sectors for economic diversification in the Sultanate.
He noted that the Mineral Wealth Act promulgated by Royal Decree No (19/2019) is an indication of the interest, which was discussed by the State Council on May 3, 2018.
At its first session of the fourth annual session of the sixth period, the Council of Oman had discussed the articles of divergence between the two Councils regarding the draft law.
Al Busaidi said: “What distinguishes this law is that the government has set a number of objectives consistent with the standards of governance and modern
legislation, which enhances the attractiveness of the sector for investment, and contributes to facilitate the procedures for obtaining and accelerating mining approvals, providing promising mining areas for investment, and other ambitious goals.
Consistent with these tireless efforts of the government to develop the sector, and in support of it, the Council formed this Special Committee and tasked it to study the “promotion of mineral wealth”. The proposal also comes in line with draft Oman Vision 2040.
The Council then discussed the proposal of Education and Research Committee to study utilising the services of retired individuals to benefit from their expertise.
Abdullah bin Mubarak al Shanfari, Head of the Education and Research Committee, indicated that the proposal aimed to extend the retirement age of experts and specialists.
He cited several justifications for the review of the extension of retirement age, which included the economic dimension, the intellectual security dimension, the legislative dimension and the procedural dimension.
He stressed that extending the retirement age would enable the government to make the most of their human resources.
Following discussions, the Council decided to submit it for further consideration by the Committee and re-submit it to the Council at its next Regular Session with the observations and comments of the
members.
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