Salalah— The Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion, in collaboration with the Projects, Tenders, and Local Content Authority and the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), conducted a joint field visit to various industries in the Dhofar Governorate as part of national efforts to increase local content and promote industrial development.
The trip included industrial facilities from several sectors situated in the Salalah Free Zone, Madayn (Public Establishment for Industrial Estates), and the Dhofar Industrial Zone. The team examined manufacturing processes, highlighted important industrial accomplishments, and explored methods for growth and innovation.
Challenges that these factories faced were also discussed, as were potential growth possibilities and approaches for promoting collaboration between government agencies and the commercial sector. This is consistent with the goals of the National Industrial Strategy, which promotes local value creation.
This trip occurs at a time when Oman's industrial sector is experiencing strong growth. By the end of 2024, the manufacturing sector's contribution to GDP at constant prices was over RO 3.6 billion, and non-oil commodity exports totaled more than RO 6.2 billion, including RO 1.8 billion from metal products.
These indicators emphasize the critical contribution of manufacturing businesses in promoting economic diversification and boosting local value creation.
Eng. Khalid Salim Al Qasabi, Director General of Industry at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry, and Investment Promotion, said that these visits—which are conducted in collaboration with key stakeholders at industrial locations—allow for direct interaction with factory owners and workers. This, he believes, helps them gain a better understanding of their needs, find appropriate solutions, and investigate industrial networking opportunities.
He said that the Directorate General of Industry would continue its visits to the other governorates of Oman as part of a comprehensive plan devised in collaboration with relevant institutions. Al Qasabi emphasized the ministry's commitment to promoting and enabling the industrial sector in accordance with the government's goal of increasing local content and developing the national economy, in order to achieve the objectives of Oman Vision 2040.
