Muscat – The Executive Office of the Council of Labour Ministers and Council of Social Affairs Ministers in Gulf Cooperation Council launched a workshop titled ‘Challenges and Job Opportunities’ in Salalah on Wednesday.

The two-day workshop aims to empower persons with disabilities in the labour market in GCC countries.

The opening of the workshop was patronised by H H Sayyid Marwan bin Turki al Said, Governor of Dhofar, in the presence of representatives of the Executive Office of the Council of Labour Ministers and Council of Social Affairs Ministers of the GCC.

The working sessions of the programme included four main themes, including community partnership and its role in empowering persons with disabilities in the Gulf labour market, issues and aspirations of women with disabilities at work in the GCC, the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals in empowering persons with disabilities in the Gulf labour market, and rehabilitation of persons with disabilities to integrate into the labour market.

Mohammed bin Humaid al Kalbani, director general of Directorate of Social Development in Dhofar, said, “The workshop aims to support the issues of persons with disabilities and provide them with full rights for equality and social integration.”

He added that persons with disabilities receive due attention in development of social policies in the GCC, taking into account the rights guaranteed to them by the Islamic Sharia and other international, regional and local legislations and agreements.

Salim Said al Badi, director general of Labour Welfare in the Ministry of Labour, informed that the total number of Omanis with disabilities employed in 2021 was 9,296, according to data released by the National Centre for Statistics and Information.

Of the total, 3,391 were employed in the government sector and 5,905 in the private, while 7,757 were men compared to 1,539 women. Hearing impairment and disability constituted the highest number among those employed.