Muscat, 7 Feb (ONA) — The Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion will mark the Industry Day, which falls on 9 February every year. The event commemorates the visit of the late Sultan Qaboos bin Said to the Al Rusayl Industrial City on 9 February 1991.

Qais Mohammed Al Yousef, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, will meet industrialists, project owners and investors via videoconferencing.

The meeting will explore promising investment opportunities in the industry sector and hammer out solutions for challenges posed to the sector.

Statistics issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) show that the industry sector contributed RO 2 billion over the first nine months of 2021, constituting 8.5% of the total volume of the Gross Domestic Product.

Total exports over the first nine months of 2021 stood at RO 12.28 billion, of them RO 7.08 billion from exports of the oil and gas sector and RO 4.18 billion from non-oil exports, while the re-export sector contributed RO 1.02 billion.

Direct foreign investments stood at RO 1.48 billion during 2021, compared to RO 1.42 billion during 2020.

Statistics also indicate that Omanis constituted 12.64% (33,359) of the total workforce of the industry sector, which stood at 263,913.

— Ends/AB/AG