Muscat: Oman’s Nazdaher National Programme for Private Sector and Foreign Trade Development unveiled new measures to improve the business climate, raise the Sultanate’s standing in global indices and empower companies to scale under Vision 2040. The update came at a media briefing in Muscat led by programme head Khalid bin Saeed Al-Shaibi .

Al-Shaibi said Nazdaher is among the accelerated national initiatives delivering near-term outcomes for the economy and development pillar of Vision 2040, positioning Oman as a competitive hub for investment and trade and enabling Omani firms to expand globally .

Phase I (2021–2023). The programme tracked diversification projects worth RO 11 billion and delivered investor-facing tools to the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MoCIIP), including the Invest in Oman platform, an incentives guide, investment map, a fast-track route and investor residency, alongside a national negotiation team and investment strategy . Industrial localisation included developing the Ladaen plastics complex with OQ and Madayn to meet domestic demand and grow exports . The team also secured over RO 1.5 billion in strategic investments in Duqm and Sohar—such as Jindal Shadeed’s steel complex in Duqm and United Solar’s polysilicon plant in Sohar Free Zone—and handed complete marketing packs and data to Invest in Oman for follow-through . In parallel, it prepared 37 investment opportunities worth RO 828 million across seven sectors, and drew up a 10-year investment strategy for the cultural and creative industries with priority projects and enabling initiatives .

Phase II (2024–2025). Current workstreams focus on: strengthening the private-sector track (a formal voice under OCCI in economic decision-making, programmes for family-business governance, scaling mid-caps, sector accelerators, product competitiveness, standards and the Omani Quality Mark); a foreign-trade track to maximise benefits from trade agreements via smart toolkits and targeted market programmes; and a value-chains/cluster track developing integrated clusters—aluminium (Sohar), fisheries (Qurayat; South Sharqiyah), Shaleem minerals, agro-cities including Al-Najd, and trade-logistics chains linked to Duqm .

On competitiveness, Nazdaher is applying a structured methodology to close gaps in the World Bank’s Business Readiness indicators: analysis of about 750 sub-indicators across 10 themes, completion of 24 immediate reforms, and a pipeline of 17 improvements through 2025–2026 in cooperation with 22+ government entities .

Unified national investment identity. Oman launched a unified investment and promotional identity on Jan 8, 2025 at Qasr Al Baraka under the royal patronage of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik, adopting the theme “Partnership”. The identity was showcased during Oman’s participation at the World Economic Forum in Davos; a dedicated office now oversees rollout, a unified usage framework has been circulated, and capacity-building workshops have been held with government, OIA companies and private agencies and creators

2025 © All right reserved for Oman Establishment for Press, Publication and Advertising (OEPPA) Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).