2nd National Stakeholder Workshop Oman: Linking green products to tourism in Oman

UNCTAD and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) jointly organized the workshop for producers, associations, and government officials working to improve the performance of these sectors. The workshop was convened in Mussanah Oman on 9-10 May 2017. The meeting opened with a special televised segment hosted by the H.E. The Governor.

In the following weeks, the National Team of Experts will revise/update the NGER report (in particular its action plan) based on inputs and decisions made by stakeholders at the workshop. The revised NGER report will be submitted to the Ministry of Commerce and Industry for final approval and then to all stakeholders and their organizations.

Among others, actions proposed by national stakeholders at the workshop included:

• Introducing new regulations/incentives for hotels and restaurants to serve Omani dates and fish to clients.
• Enhancing infrastructure at fishery ports, and supporting the acquisition of larger vessels by artisanal fishermen thus enabling producers to expand production levels.
• Improving packaging and labelling of date and fishery products, including by introducing new standards.
• Adding value to Omani date and fish products and test these products against international preferences in the national tourist market.
• Placing an emphasis on attracting tourists from new and growing tourist origin markets (including China and India).
• Designing new tourism packages (both day trips and week-long vacations) based on agro- and fisheries tourism themes that allow tourists to meet and “work-for-a-day” with Omani farmers and fishermen.
• Raising awareness of national consumers, particularly youth, of the benefits of consuming national date and fish products.
• Introducing Omani date and fish products on all Oman Air flights, and all inter-city routes of the national bus service Mwasalat.
• Establishing an Omani label to distinguish Omani food products from imported food products.

In closing the workshop, Dr Omar Al-Jabri, National Experts Team Leader and Professor at Sultan Qaboos University, informed stakeholders that their inputs were carefully recorded and that they would be integrated into a revised version of the NGER report. In addition, Mr Robert Hamwey, Economic Affairs Officer of UNCTAD, noted that results of Oman’s NGER project would be published by UNCTAD and presented by the project’s National Experts at an intergovernmental expert meeting that will be convened in Geneva in 2018.

Photo credit: Ms Bothaina Al-Zaabi, OmanCareers