It appears that the coronavirus pandemic will give impetus to investments in the production of vaccines, medications for treatment, modernisation of hospitals and upgrade of public health infrastructure. The Arab region suffers from a lack of adequate investment in pharmaceutical and healthcare related manufacturing and specialist services.
We are dependent on foreign countries for our requirement of vaccines and pharmaceuticals, while they shy away from giving use the requisite knowhow to support the growth of domestic manufacturing capabilities.
In the Sultanate, it is imperative that more attention is given to local production of vaccines and pharmaceuticals. This new sector can also open up opportunities for employment generation while expanding the industrial and productive base of the economy.
Indeed, great efforts are being made by the government in attracting foreign investment with the Sultanate’s embassies joining the campaign to promote Oman as a destination for investment.
With countries in the region competing for international investment, business leaders in the Sultanate stress the need for more incentives and facilities, coupled with the reduction of barriers to trade, and the dismantling of impediments, to help enhance Oman’s investment appeal. They insist that the industrial sector should be dealt with in a prudent, as it is one of the sectors that needs a lot of care and attention in terms of attracting the quality of the required investments, providing more industrial areas, preparing skilled labour, and so on.
Industry needs to obtain the necessary knowledge, provide the technical capabilities, work on exemptions, incentives and facilities, and ease tax systems, thereby improving the investment environment.
The sector needs to increase its capacity, competitiveness, productivity and export focus. These efforts should be backed by modern legislation that fuels the healthy growth of industry.
It is also the duty of government institutions to give more attention to local industrial products in their tendering and procurements.
This is in line with various decisions issued by the concerned authorities in the Sultanate over the past decades, but rarely put in practice, according to some industrialists. Without active support from the government, the industrial sector is likely to drive away young people, entrepreneurs and investors looking to be part of a thriving segment of the economy.
Everyone hopes to see the industrial map of the country redrawn with manufacturing being nurtured in every governorate of the Sultanate.
Haider al lawati
haiderdawood@hotmail.com
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