Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
day two of the sultan's visit, petitioners may well expect to see the pylons delivered by
day four of the same trip. It is this accessibility on the part of the sultan, together with his
reputation for delivering promises, and for promoting tolerance and dialogue in a region
not wholly typified by either quality, that makes him a national treasure.
Sultan Qaboos is not married and has no children. As he celebrates over 40 years of a
benign and enlightened reign, thoughts inevitably are turning to what the country will do
without him.
Education & Diversification
In building a modern state, Sultan Qaboos' chief strategy has been to create a highly
trained local workforce through intensive investment in education. Schooling is free, even
partially at tertiary level, and provision is made (until recently by helicopter) for children
of even the remotest villages. There has been no distinction in this approach between the
genders. Indeed, girls account for almost half of the students in public and private schools
while around half of the students at Sultan Qaboos University, the country's leading edu-
cational establishment, are women. Women are outperforming male students even in en-
gineering and medicine, traditionally male disciplines: the first female flight engineer in
the region is from Oman.
With limited oil revenues, Oman cannot sustain costly expatriate labour, so a policy of
'Omanisation' in every aspect of the workforce is rigorously pursued. In contrast to the
rest of the region, it is refreshing to find locals - often of both sexes - working in all sec-
tions of society, from petrol-pump attendants to senior consultants.
Two central planks of the economy are self-sufficiency in food production, realised
through intensive agriculture along the Batinah coast, and diversification of the economy.
These schemes include the export of natural gas from a successful plant near Sur; an
enormous port project in Duqm, which is predicted to be one of the biggest in the world
when it is complete; and other important port projects that are undergoing expansion at
Salalah and Sohar. The decision to disperse new economic initiatives across the regions
has helped keep local communities buoyant and helped slow the exodus of villagers mi-
grating to the capital.
Much investment continues to be made in Oman's infrastructure - no mean feat given
the challenges presented by the country's size, remoteness and terrain. It is now possible
to drive on sealed roads to most towns and villages across the country. A similar surge in
IT infrastructure is ensuring that Oman is connected effectively to the world's information
highways, with e-government and telecom developments revolutionising the way business
is conducted at home and abroad.
