Tuesday 14 / January / 2025
Muscat: The National Local Content Laboratory kicked off on Monday at Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre, with the participation of 43 government and private sector establishments.
The lab is organised by the Secretariat General of the Tender Board in cooperation with the Oman Vision 2040 Implementation Follow-up Unit.
The two-week lab discusses issues of relevance to promoting the in-country value (ICV) with a view to enhancing the national economy. Envisaged measures include the implementation of policies to encourage companies to rely on local resources, cooperation among educational institutions to help develop related skills, and enabling local institutions to expand. It also looks into ways of cooperating with international partners to promote Omani products globally.
The laboratory targets a number of vital sectors, including energy, minerals, construction, electricity, water, health, military and security sectors.
Besides promoting reliance on local products, the lab seeks measures to raise the efficiency of the national workforce, develop industrial capabilities, localize industries, support innovation, transfer technology and support the competitiveness of local companies. The opening ceremony was held under the auspices of Dr. Said Mohammed Al Saqri, Minister of Economy.
The minister stressed the significance of the laboratory and the vital sectors that it targets. He pointed out that many opportunities are at hand to localize basic industries and services in the target sectors which, he said, would in turn boost the expansion of productive structures in the economy.
The lab aims to realise integration among the relevant sectors to ensure the utilisation of shared resources to achieve long-term strategic goals and build effective partnerships with government institutions and private sector establishments. The lab offers an opportunity to encourage cooperation among academic institutions, research centres and industry sectors, with the prime aim of supporting innovation and engaging stakeholders to join discussions on devising a sustainable mechanism of communication among all relevant parties.
