Oman government will support new Film but as not shareholder : Latest Oman Decision

Commerce and Industry Minister Dr Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy hailed the idea of founding a privately-owned company to serve as an independent commercial project (in the Sharqiyah North Governorate) based on proper market study, capital and administration — components which the minister said would guarantee the success of such a project.  The minister made the statement here yesterday during a meeting with businessmen and businesswomen of the Sharqiyah North Governorate. He said that the availability of proper components, as cited above, along with the involvement of founders who command a high level of competence are basic factors which ensure the sustainability of any commercial project as they save as a strong guard against failure which was the fate of some private companies in the Sultanate.
 Sunaidy told the businessmen and businesswomen that the government, represented by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry, has no plan to enter as shareholder in privately-owned companies. Yet the government will indirectly finance these companies by providing basics like infrastructure and services (electricity, water, roads), said the minister. The government can also offer support to founders in privately-owned companies by funding their projects’ feasibility studies, which is part of an obligation upon the Ministry. If the company is not established, then the feasibility study remains a right to the Ministry to use to serve another company, Al Sunaidy added.

The minister pointed out that companies can be financed by commercial banks which possess more than RO 10 bn (frozen). He explained that a sum of nearly RO 4 bn can be offered without interest, and this is certainly a feature which will benefit both sides upon operation because it lends support to infrastructure and buildings which the privately-owned companies require in setting up their commercial projects. Al Sunaidy valued the government’s plan to implement many projects in the Sharqiyah North Governorate, including the dualisation of Bidbid-Sur road, the railway project and Al Sharqiyah University, which come as part of projects which will enhance the march of commercial and economic sectors in the governorate. These projects also enable privately-owned companies to benefit from service, trade and tourism enterprises that the mega projects will require on the long run, as well as other projects like crushers, stores and freezing projects in which privately-owned companies can invest.

Al Sunaidy said that the next stage of the current Five Year Plan focuses on social projects, which top the priorities of the next Five Year Plan, following the directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos through the Council of Oman (Majlis Oman), and it is also part of the current trend of government sectors. So, importance will be given to priorities and focus will laid on developing all sectors. The symposium on Small and Medium Enterprises is accorded great attention by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, said Al Sunaidy, noting that, since the seminar’s first launch AT Saih al Shamikhat in the Wilayat of Bahla, it has developed a kind of harmony between the desires of youths and owners of establishments. Accordingly, there existed a sort of harmony between the legal frameworks and the organisational frameworks which come under the supervision of the government, he added.

“If the government fails to develop small and medium enterprises in the Sultanate, the main reason would be illicit trade which keeps dragging us down when we try to develop SMEs,” said the minister. “We have only ourselves to blame for the existence of illicit trade. We have to find solutions. The complications you see in financing and in the Tender Board is mainly based on fears from the spread of illicit trade,” said al Sunaidy. The minister pointed out that nearly 120,000 establishments come under the name “small and medium enterprise”, but these provide employment for only 10,000 Omani youths, whereas only 10 big companies provide employment for 170,000 Omani youths.
 Sunaidy pointed out that work began on 200 small and medium enterprises, to train them on marketing and send their employees abroad to gain more expertise in commercial fields like the holding of promotional exhibitions. Through the 10 per cent devoted to small and medium enterprises (from big companies), the Ministry and the SME authority will do their best to support Omani youths and owners of SMEs, said the minister. In the meantime, he said that illicit trade will be dealt with strictly in co-operation with the departments concerned with lands and expatriate manpower.

Asked about Al Rafd Fund, the minister said, in his statement, that work on the fund will not begin before December because the institution is on the foundation stage and because there are legal procedures to be completed first, so the project will not begin to function before January 2014. Al Rafd Fund, said the minister, does not wish to replicate the complications which faced Oman Development Bank like the failure of some projects and the crippling of others. One of the good ideas in the business arena, said the minister, is the setting up of a livestock market to be run by privately-owned companies. This is one of the projects which the Ministry of Commerce and Industry encourages in wilayats, which have fast areas to establish such markets, said the minister, who promised full support in terms of studies and ideas to guarantee the success of privately-owned companies.