The Council of Ministers approved the national policy for local content to achieve sustainable development goals and create a national system responsible for organising and monitoring local content in all sectors.
Attention to local content was considered a distinctive feature that gives top priority to national products in development projects and programmes implemented by the government.
His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik stressed the importance of focusing on all the goals to be achieved, the most important of which include providing more job opportunities for citizens, localising industries, developing and adopting entrepreneurs, encouraging small and medium enterprises and emerging companies while reducing foreign purchases, to ensure an increase in the country’s trade balance surpluses.
In view of the importance of promoting the culture of local content in society, and to support, introduce and promote the national product, the Council of Ministers praised the national product Walaa programme aimed at motivating consumers to choose Omani products and to contribute to ensuring the continuity and growth of local companies.
Al Hassan bin Ali al Farsi, senior legal affairs researcher at the General-Secretariat of the Tender Board, said in an interview with Al Shabab Radio that the national policy for local content means developing local content in the Sultanate of Oman within a sustainable national economic strategy.
He added that the Walaa programme for the national product is a performance to encourage the consumer with points and rewards for his choice of a national product that supports Oman's economy.
In the context of expanding the use of local content, many important initiatives and programmes were launched, including the Omani Investment Authority launching programmes to enhance local added value and local content within the 'Qimam' project with the aim of empowering the private sector and supporting small and medium enterprises.
The Local Value Directorate was also established to contribute to the growth of the local economy and develop a sustainable competitive market for goods and services.
It is noteworthy that local content is the total domestic spending that contributes to enhancing the growth and competitiveness of the economy and local industries, a trend that paves the way for many positive repercussions in terms of developing companies and national capabilities in various sectors.
The National Local Content Policy will operate according to clear performance indicators to enhance local potential.
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