MUSCAT, DEC 15 - The Public Authority for Privatisation and Partnership (PAPP) held a seminar for Tawazun Programme on the theme, ‘The Use of the Offsets Programmes Worldwide in Developing the Defence Industry’. The seminar was presented jointly by Professor Ron Matthews, Professor of Defence Economics, Cranfield University at the UK Defence Academy and by Guy Anderson, associate Director of A&D industry within global information and insight group Jane’s IHS Markit. Over 80 participants from selected government entities attended the seminar.
The objective of seminar was to brief senior Defence and Security officials on the benefits of using Offset to implement Oman’s prosperity agenda and Professor Matthews used the United Kingdom Government’s model as an example of how this has been successfully implemented in bringing about defence industrialisation and self-dependence while also highlighting examples from around the world about the best practices in the application of Offset.
Guy Anderson from Jane’s IHS Markit provided a global overview of the current offset landscape and the likely trends going forward in what is a changing landscape in terms of Global offset policies. Whilst currently more than 100 countries worldwide apply offset or equivalent policies to defence and security transactions this number is increasing year on year as countries adapt to the changing economic and security landscape with countries such Indonesia, Macedonia, Morocco, Pakistan, Peru, Ukraine, and Vietnam introducing formal programmes for the first time.
Moreover, their monetary value is rising and experts estimate that accumulated global offset obligations now total in excess of $500 billion, as Offsets are drawing the attention of national governments and defence companies due to their economic and strategic importance.
PAPP aims that through organising these kinds of seminars and workshops, to highlight the impact of Tawazun Oman (offsets) on defence business, industrial and technological development, compare and critically evaluate the effectiveness of offsets practices globally and understand and evaluate how offsets can be used to create innovative business models.
Moreover, to enhance the skills development in the field of offsets management leading to human capacity development in a highly specialised and niche area in line with the Government of Oman’s aspiration to have a highly skilled workforce that will result in their ability to manage offsets projects more effectively.
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