Economic partnership between government institutions and the private sector is carried out through a number of organisations, foremost among them the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), which witnessed last year a package of initiatives and programmes for this purpose.
This partnership seeks to achieve several national objectives that the government has been working towards for decades, including enhancing the business environment, attracting local and foreign investments and expanding the base of economic diversification in line with the targets of Oman Vision 2040.
Over the past year, the Chamber introduced many programmes to enhance the business environment across the Omani governorates, leaving a tangible impact on the country’s credit rating as well and all economic sector indicators recorded positive growth.
The Chamber also works to support these sectors under the new five-year plan (2026-2030), enabling the government to achieve economic growth of 4% at constant prices and to realise several economic and social goals, while maintaining efficiency, sustainability, competitiveness, financial sustainability and economic diversification.
In addition, the Chamber addresses challenges facing the private sector and supports government efforts to generate more job opportunities for citizens in this regard to strength integration between the public and private sectors; and improving the attractiveness of the investment environment.
The Chamber continues to coordinate and work with its active members through its activities and programmes, facilitating traders’ tasks in commercial affairs. It also continues its efforts by activating the work of 20 sectoral committees, distributing roles among them, adopting their recommendations and submitting them to the relevant authorities to correct the course of these sectors.
All of this takes place as the Chamber focuses on expanding the base of economic diversification through participation in international exhibitions and organising visits for delegations of Omani businesspeople abroad to keep abreast of the latest developments in manufacturing and production processes.
This is coupled with its continued provision of studies and consultations through its ten branches, support for the establishment of community-based companies, empowerment of local investment and tangible progress in digital transformation to serve the aspirations of the coming phase.
The developments taking place in the Sultanate of Oman and the expansion of the country’s economic ecosystem require the Chamber and its representatives to play a greater role in the next phase as part of efforts to achieve economic diversification.
The most prominent strategic directions of the Sultanate of Oman lie in improving the business environment to attract local and foreign investment and expanding the base of economic diversification by supporting non-oil sectors and encouraging the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises through training and qualification of their leaders.
The country is set to engage in the coming phase with the issuance of a decision to establish the Oman International Financial Centre, which represents a strategic step towards creating an attractive investment environment and strengthening the role of commercial banks
Economic partnership between public and private institutions cannot be fully realised in an investment-adverse environment. Private sector stakeholders seek incentives and facilitation to enable them to establish their projects without obstacles or challenges, particularly in areas related to employing national and foreign labour to carry out business transactions, as well as mechanisms for addressing unproductive labour.
This requires a clear understanding of these issues, alongside combating bureaucracy within public institutions so that companies do not face disruptions in production processes or daily operations, which could otherwise lead to liquidation or bankruptcy.
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