The Conference on “Effective Corporate Governance” held recently by the Oman Centre for Governance and Sustainability, in collaboration with the Capital Market Authority and the OECD, included constructive discussions by those in charge of managing public, government and private joint stock companies.
This is consistent with the Sultanate’s interest in this matter in the context of promoting awareness on this scientific term that has become part of businesses in the issue of global competitiveness, and their ability of disclosure, transparency, accountability, follow-up, development, commitment and other matters related to combating corruption in general.
All the key players in those institutions, including boards of directors, shareholders and investors, are the supervisory authorities responsible for these issues in order to develop their departments so that they can tackle the regional and international changes that beset the economies of countries and their institutions.
Many of these issues were addressed in the last conference through worksheets presented by participants from a number of institutions in the Sultanate and abroad. Accordingly, Sayyid Hamid bin Sultan al Busaidi, Executive Director of Oman Centre for Governance and Sustainability, affirmed in his speech that OCGS is currently preparing a special charter for government companies to support their growth and enhance their corporate culture. As for the other conference attendees, they discussed various regional and global trends of governance, whether in public institutions, the private sector or government or family owned companies, as well as the challenges that can limit the application of these practices in the business environment.
The Sultanate, while raising the issue of governance, is one of the first countries in the MENA region to adopt the concept and culture of corporate governance since 2002.
It has since issued a mandatory charter for the organisation and management of public joint-stock companies with the aim of adopting a policy of disclosure and transparency in the annual reports of companies, which leads to educating its shareholders through accountability that takes place in its general assembly meetings.
Today, there are many goals that can be achieved through the exercise of governance in institutions established in the Sultanate and other countries. Governance methods will certainly improve the effectiveness and efficiency of operations management and the development of human and financial resources for institutions.
Therefore, these methods can be employed in areas that can achieve more returns for institutions and companies. The continuation of governance and talking about it in various media outlets and on key corporate events will inevitably lead to building a new culture among their employees, as well as designing successful policies for them in future work.
These results — undoubtedly — will lead to a sense of responsibility towards achieving the strategic goals of institutions and responding to the requirements and needs of their clients in a timely manner adopting high standards of quality and speed. Some developed countries have preceded us in governance by achieving a culture of accountability and transparency, through which they were able to combat and atop corruption, which is practiced in various forms, and create the foundations on which responsibilities are identified and positive results are achieved.
What is lacking today is for general assemblies of Omani companies to be highly responsible, so that their members are free to ask questions that are important to the future of the joint-stock companies, which will be reflected on the performance of the stock market, and consequently on the Omani economy as well.
Discussions enhance the concept of governance from on one hand, and educate shareholders on the responsibilities that fall on members to spread awareness and push companies to adopt informed policies in administrative and financial operations, human resource development and everything related to the future of companies on the other hand.
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