Muscat – The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion (MoCIIP) signed five agreements to boost the industrial sector on Thursday.

Celebrating Omani Industry Day, which focused this year on promoting local content and the initiatives of the manufacturing industries’ laboratory, the event also saw the launch of the Omani Product Logo and Oman Barcoding Centre.

H E Dr Saleh Said Massan, Undersecretary for Commerce and Industry in MoCIIP, said that by launching the international numbering system (barcode) for Omani goods and products, the ministry seeks to raise the efficiency of the supply chain, facilitate the sale and marketing of Omani products, unify the marketing identity of national products and encourage Omani industrial establishments to target new markets and raise local and foreign consumer awareness.

Among the pacts inked on Thursday was one MoCIIP signed with Al Baraka Petrochemical Salts for annual production of about 4mn tonnes of salt in the Al Lukbi region in Al Wusta. The project, spread on an area of 187.23 hectares, will increase total output to 7mn tonnes per annum in the final stage.

The second is a memorandum of understanding between OQ Group and the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates – Madayn – for development of an area to make semi-finished and fully manufactured plastic products. The unit will be part of the Plastics Complex.

Madayn also signed a cooperation programme with the Authority for Small and Medium Enterprises Development for establishment of a project known as Prefabricated Factories Complex. The cooperation, aimed at supporting SMEs, will offer a variety of incentives within the complex and designated suitable sites for SMEs in all industrial cities.

The fourth pact was signed by MoCIIP and the Industrial Innovation Academy on a programme to empower Omani factories with technologies of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR). It provides for analysis of the status of some factories, financing equipment and the latest technologies related to automation and building a team of experts, and an incubator for 4IR applications to establish real value models for factories in various industrial fields.

The last agreement is for implementation of a ‘Green Smart Industrial Cities Initiative’, signed by Madayn and Oman Investment and Development Holding Company.

It will see the establishment of an efficient, balanced and flexible system to protect the environment and sustain its natural resources. The initiative provides support for the national economy by applying the concept of circular economy and building smart industrial cities using various types of renewable energy. The initiative will contribute to cost reduction in productive sectors.

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