Career and Training Opportunities Fair opens in Sultan Qaboos University

Symposium on human resources development in kicks off in GCC states

Important achievements in job-Omanization

Oil & Gas West Asia 2008 Exhibition, Conference to be held in Oman in April

Career and Training Opportunities Fair 2008, organized by the Sultan Qaboos University Center for Career Guidance, was opened by Dr Jumaa bin Ali al Jumaa, Minister for Manpower. Dr Ali bin Saud al Bimani, Vice Chancellor, and other top officials of the university attended the function. More than 50 high profile companies, including multinational giants, are participating in the fair.

The fair facilitates a meeting place for the university students and the private sector organizations, informing students about the availability of job vacancies, training opportunities, and ways to get them, educating students about work atmosphere in the private sector through direct communication and giving the private sector an opportunity to know the academic level as well as skills and competencies of the university students.

At the fair, human resources officials and other specialists of the corporate sector gave guidance to the students to facilitate employment avenues in their firms. The fair will enable the students to get an idea of the courses having more demand in the current job markets. Royal Air Force of Oman, Royal Navy of Oman, Omantel, HSBC Bank, Bank Muscat, Shell, PDO, Oman Electricity Transmission Company, National Bank of Oman, Oman Cement Company, Nestle Oman Trading, Oxy and Ahli Bank were among the companies attending the fair. Today is earmarked for only female students.

The proceedings of the ‘Human Resources Strategic Development in the AGCC countries and the role of public administration and administrative development institute in implementing them‘ seminar kicked off at the Institute of Public Administration in Al Khuwair.

The proceedings of the seminar were held under the patronage of Sheikh Abdul Rahman bin Ibrahim al Abri, Civil Service Ministry Undersecretary and Deputy Chairman of the Institute of Public Administration.

Dr. Sulaiman bin Hilal al Alawi, Director General of the Institute of Public Administration pointed out that the seminar is a translation of the joint AGCC cooperation and comes in line with the interest shown by the AGCC countries in developing human resources. It also reflects the desire by the administrative development bodies to play an active role in supporting the efforts exerted by the AGCC governments to develop their national human resources.

It is worth-mentioning that the seminar focuses on the HRD strategies in the AGCC countries, the experiences and application of the administrative development in the field of human resources development and the support provided by the AGCC governments to national human resources strategies and applications.

The seminar was attended by a number of officials at the Institute of Public Administration and some AGCC human resources development administrations.

Omanization is a policy enacted by the government of Oman in 1988 aimed at replacing expatriate workers with trained Omani Personnel. The Sultanate of Oman sets quotas for various industries to reach in terms of the percentage of Omani to foreign workers. Companies which reach their government mandated goals are given a "green card", meaning they receive press attention and preferential treatment in their dealings with the government. Several Universities have been opened by the Sultanate to train Omani workers.

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has proclaimed percentages of Omanization to be met in six areas of the private sector. Transport, storage and communications - 60% Finance, insurance and real estate - 45% Industrial - 35% Hotels and restaurants - 30% Wholesale or retail trading - 20% Contracting - 15% Many of the government ministries have already reached 100% Omanization.

The Omani government claims several reasons for their implementation on the Omanization policy. Besides ensuring low unemployment rates for Omani citizens, Omanization allows Oman to be self-reliant in human resources by decreasing dependency on expatriates. In 1993, the time of the first Omani census, more than a quarter of those living in Oman were expatriates. Since then, however, many have left.

The Omanization policy has several benefits for the Omani population. By relying on the native population for workers, the need for women in the workforce is increased. This increases their role in society, and thereby puts them on the road to equality. Omani woman now outnumber men in many of Oman's universities. Many of these women continue on to civil society organizations, which are crucial for a healthy society. Oman also recently appointed a female minister, making it the only country in the region to have a woman in the highest tier of government.

The focus of the program is on training Omani citizens to do work that was previously given to expatriates. This training allows the people to better themselves and gives youth hope for their future.

The Sanad program was established at the directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos to provide job seekers among citizens with opportunities to gain their living and to support self-employment projects and develop small businesses.

The objectives of the Sanad program are Contributing to the employment of the national labor force, encouraging and supporting individual initiatives and self-employment programs, contributing to qualifying individuals and preparing them to actively contribute to the labor market, developing individual projects and drafting required programs and plans to spread them and establishing incubators to provide individuals who wish to establish small projects with required care and support.

Components of Sanad Program:

1: Sanad Fund for the Support and Development of Small Projects (Ministry of Manpower):

This fund supports job seekers among the skilled and craftsmen to establish individual and family self- employment projects by offering required finance and guidance, according to the terms and regulations drafted for this propose. The fund also trains applicants who seek finance to establish private projects, in the training and qualifying establishments available in the country.

2: Sanad Fund for the Finance of Earning Living Projects (Ministry of Social Development) :

The fund supports job seekers among the families of social security and persons with special needs to establish their own productive projects which help them secure an appropriate income to meet their life requirements.

3: Sanad Offices:

These offices spread all over the Sultanate’s regions and governorates and affiliate to the directorates of the Ministry of Manpower which hosts the executive body of Sanad program. These offices are distributed as follows:

Sanad office in Muscat Governorate.

Sanad office in Dhofar Governorate.

Sanad office in Musandam Governorate.

Sanad office in the Dhakhiliyah region.

Sanad office in the Wusta region.

Sanad office in the Sharqiyah region.

Sanad office in the Batinah region.

Sanad office in the Dhahirah region.

Sanad Offices Exercise the Following Tasks:

1 – Receiving applications of job seekers and individual initiatives and transferring these applications to the main office and guide them on the steps taken in connection with their applications.

2 – Providing those who wish to establish small projects with vocational guidance.

3 – Contributing to the implementation of required procedures to establish individual and small projects.

4 – Regular follow-up of individual and small projects owners and assisting them in minimizing the difficulties facing their projects.

5 – Supervising the small investment projects whose management is awarded to Omanis with individual initiatives.

4: Sanad Incubators :

Sanad incubators are set up with the purpose of providing small projects with transitional care. Such incubators are established with the participation of government authorities, private associations and the private sector. These authorities provide the premises for the projects along with required equipment for establishing the incubators and training candidates who will work in these incubators, offering advice and technical and administrative support, drafting required terms and regulations and following up and assessing the incubators` activities.

The Aspirations of Sanad program:

Sustainability of projects financed by Sanad program remains a pivotal objective which should be achieved through the following:

Enhancing awareness with the importance of self- employment and the role of free labor in improving living conditions of individuals and the society and pushing forward the social and economic development in the country.

Availing protective support to those in charge of projects, by imposing appropriate Omanisation policies to remove unequal competition with a highly experienced expatriate labor.

Promoting the skills, capabilities and knowledge of job seekers to transform them from wasted energies into productive ones which actively contribute to enhancing the Sultanate’s GDP.

Sanad Program aims to enhance its activity, increase the number of its beneficiaries and apply a number of policies as a requisite to achieve success. These policies include :

Enhancing organizational and human capabilities of the program.

Activating the role of social upbringing establishments.

Promoting the program.

Establishing a comprehensive electronic database.

Holding exhibitions.

Preparing feasibility studies of individual projects.

On another hand, more than 150 companies from a total of 21 countries and a large number of industry professionals from all over the world will be taking part in the Oil & Gas West Asia (OGWA) 2008 Exhibition and Conference, which will be held in the Sultanate of Oman on April 21-23.

“With the participation of local and international firms including many national oil & gas companies in the GCC, OGWA 2008 will be the biggest ever event in Oman for the oil & gas industry since the inaugural edition of the event in 1998,” said C.J. Paul, General Manager of Omanexpo LLC, the leading exhibition management company in the sultanate.

Paul pointed out that the OGWA 2008 exhibition, which will be held at the Oman International Exhibition Centre, will be a grand showcase of the technologies, products, equipment, and technical services for the oil & gas industry in Oman and other parts of the region. Among the countries that will be represented in the exhibition are Bahrain, China, Egypt, France, Germany, India, Iran, Italy, South Korea, Kuwait, Malaysia, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, UAE, UK and USA. Paul added during a press briefing that the event will also prominently feature the operations and achievements of national oil & gas companies such as Petroleum Development Oman (PDO), Oman LNG, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), Qatar Petroleum (QP), the Bahrain Petroleum Company (BAPCO) and Bahrain National Gas Company.

Also present at the press conference were Khalifa bin Mubarak bin Ali Al-Hinai, Conference Chairman and Technical Advisor to the Minister of Oil & Gas; Saif Al Hinai, Technical Program Chairperson of PDO; and Waleed Refaay, Managing Director of SPE Middle East, North Africa and India.

The Society of Petroleum Engineers (SPE) is managing and organizing the international conference dubbed the “SPE EOR Conference at OGWA,” which is scheduled on April 21-23 at the Golden Tulip Hotel. The conference will have an executive keynote session featuring John Malcolm, Managing Director of PDO and senior representatives from other national oil companies in the region. It will bring together global experts in all forms of enhanced oil recovery (EOR) techniques to present, share, and discuss their experiences. The technical program will cover the latest advances in thermal, gas, and chemical EOR methods; EOR selection criteria; surveillance techniques for locating remaining oil; and drivers and challenges in implementing EOR. Several field pilots and case studies will also be part of the discussions. According to the SPE, the conference presents a great opportunity for practicing engineers and geoscientists involved in E&P work.

The SPE EOR Conference at OGWA is officially supported by PDO as the platinum sponsor, Schlumberger as the silver sponsor, while the co-sponsors are Shell Development Oman, ADMA-OPCO, Weatherford, Petrofac, and Oman Gas Company.

For its part, the OGWA 2008 exhibition is held under the patronage of the Ministry of Oil and Gas and officially supported by Petroleum Development Oman (PDO) as well as BG Oman as the platinum sponsor and BP Oman as the gold sponsor. The co-sponsors of the event are Oman LNG, Seven Seas Petroleum, Sharaf Shipping Agency, and Weatherford.