Muscat, June 22 - The Ministry of Commerce and Industry has worked hard to make procedures for investors easy in all the governorates of the Sultanate of Oman. Ali bin Khalfan al Ghaithi, Director-General of Commerce and Industry in North Al Batinah said the Ministry of Commerce and Industry is using promising investment opportunities in various industrial zones of the governorate. This, as it believes, would revive the economy of the Sultanate to keep pace with the rapid changes taking place in the global economy as well as overcoming the challenges being faced by the investors keen to invest in the governorate.
Ali al Ghaithi said that the number of transactions done in the Directorate General of Commerce and Industry in North Al Batinah governorate in 2018 was more than 102,170, across its various departments. He said that the North Al Batinah has seen remarkable growth in the registration of various commercial and industrial activities, through “Invest Easy” portal. There were 84,989 transactions, made for various types of registrations, commercial and industrial licences, through this portal.
“The number of commercial transactions done last year was 82,527 which is an increase of more than 28 per cent compared with those of the year 2017. This increase is an evidence of the growth of commercial activity in the governorate and shows keenness of the investors to get benefit of various services in the governorate which help diversification of the economy.
Al Ghaithi said that the number of new and renewed commercial registrations done last year was 6,008. Of this, more than 5,000 were new commercial registrations. This number is clear indication of the increase in commercial activity and shows entry of new foreign investors in commercial and industrial activity. This is due to the attractive environment for investment in the governorate. The number of transactions made for updating data of the commercial registrations reached to 33,794 transactions which included various types of applications and requests.
Registrations
Ali al Ghaithi said that the ministry provides facilities to the owners of the expired and inactive registrations to encourage them to liquidate these companies. The number of companies which were liquidated in the governorate during 2018 reached to 4,940. Similarly, the number of individual commercial registrations cancelled reached to 5,385 last year.
The Director-General of Commerce and Industry said that the process of registering trademarks in the governorate has also seen significant growth recently. There were 1,557 applications filed for the trade marks in the governorate last year. Of them 718 applications were for new trademarks. There were 270 trademarks registered after verifying their compliance with the required terms and conditions. Also there were seven new commercial agencies registered and three agencies renewed.
licences
There were 619 licences issued for the promotion of various products or for price reductions. In addition to this, 93 licences were issued for petroleum products which included those for selling cooking gas cylinders and renewal of licences of fuel stations in the different governorates. To verify if they comply with terms and conditions and have required safety means, experts’ teams carried out field visits.
“There were 27,819 certificates of origin issues for export of Omani products to the Gulf and Arab countries last year. Most of them were certificates issued for industrial, agricultural, animal and natural products.”
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