Muscat – As part of its efforts to attract foreign investment and support national economy, Oman Vision 2040 Implementation Follow-Up Unit has announced that it is working on the implementation of 34 initiatives and projects within the Business Environment Improvement Program.

A statement issued by the unit said, ‘The unit, in cooperation with the competent government agencies, is following up on the implementation of 34 initiatives and projects since the beginning of 2021. These are related to economy and development and governance and institutional performance spread over three programmes aimed at improving the overall business environment.’

Eng Mohammed bin Saeid al Masrouri, General Supervisor of the Business Environment Sector at the Unit, said that the three business environment improvement programmes aim at planning and developing investment tools and opening markets, as well as simplifying and digitising government services.

He added, “The unit, in cooperation with the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, is implementing eight initiatives to empower the investment sector in the sultanate and motivate investors. One of them is the initiative to grant permanent residency to investors, in which the completion rate has reached 100 per cent and more than 200 visas were granted to investors.”

According to Masrouri, a working group of eight trainers has been formed to review government procedures, re-plan and simplify its operations. The initiative started in April 2021 and targeted 12 government agencies.

“The procedures for simplifying 84 services have been completed, including three institutions that have completed simplification of all related procedures.”

“The electronic transformation initiative of ‘Qada’ platform has also been restructured in 2021.Work is underway during this year to implement the rest of the other initiatives and projects according to the approved implementation plan to achieve the objectives of Oman Vision 2040,” said Masrouri.