CONSOLIDATED SNAPSHOT REPORT OF REGULAR SESSION RESULTS

Muscat - The marked hectic pace that characterised the 2016-17 session, the second year of the sixth term of the State Council reflects the considerable efforts made to generate highly relevant results.

The vision and commitment that powered the commitment of the council derives from His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, whose vision is National progress-centric, says Dr Khalid bin Salem al Saidi, secretary general of the State Council.

State Council activity summary

▶The State Council approved 14 draft laws and studies.

▶The bureau held eleven meetings and presented 12 reports at Regular Sessions.

▶The five standing committees, their subcommittees and meetings with Majlis A’Shura committees totalled to 69 meetings. ▶ State Council participated in the National Traffic Safety Competition 2017.

▶ 271 school and 224 college students visited the council to gain awareness.

Dr Khalid bin Salem al Saidi, secretary general of the State Council, in his statement on the 47th blessed Renaissance, which falls on July 23, said that the day is remembered by the nation reverently.

It marks the beginning of a new era in Omani history, under the wise leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said who transformed Oman into an oasis for peace, security, welfare and dignified life.

Oman today is a modern state and stands testimony to the insightful vision that worked to mobilise all energies and all human and material resources for this purpose. Today, it holds a prominent place in the international community for its active roles in maintaining regional stability and maintaining world peace.

During the blessed Renaissance, the Shura march witnessed successive developments under the visionary patronage of His Majesty the Sultan, which comes within the framework of the supreme concern to consolidate the state of institutions and consolidate the foundations of the rule of law, thereby contributing to the nation’s upliftment and strengthening its cultural path.

He expressed the hope that the celebration of the anniversary of the blessed Renaissance would be characterised by a sense of collective responsibility to assure preserving the achievements and continuing the hard work and dedication to maximise the achievements and provide more positive factors that support the march of Oman in achieving a glorious future.

Dr Saidi summarised the output of the second annual sitting of the sixth term as following:

In implementation of the directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said to promote communication between state institutions and the coordination of efforts to reach a common vision on all the national courses of action, the work of the Council of Oman is now proceeding increasingly on a joint basis wherever necessary.

The council held 11 regular sessions, during which it approved six draft laws, eight studies submitted by the permanent committees of the council and referred to the Council of Ministers, in addition to the approval of the proposal of the committees to study four topics.

Bureau meeting facts

During 2016-17, the bureau held eleven meetings and presented 12 reports to the regular sessions. The bureau took 122 decisions. It received the members ten times and discussed other subjects totaling to 197. The meetings clocked 27 hours and 20 minutes.

Joint meetings’ facts

▶ On November 13, 2016, the joint meeting between the Council of Ministers and the Council of Oman addressed the decline in oil prices had on the national economy by enhancing efforts aimed at diversifying sources of income, and the development of non-oil revenues to ensure the sustainability of the financial situation of the state.

▶ The joint meeting of the bureaus of the State Council and Majlis A’Shura on January 4, 2017 discussed facilitation of improved coordination between the two councils.

▶Two joint meetings were held between the committees of the State Council and the Majlis A’Shura.

The number of meetings of the Standing Committees and Sub-Committees of the council and the working groups emanating from the committees and the meetings of the Joint Coordinating Committees with the Shura Council totaled to 69 meetings.

State Council chairman’s visits

▶State Council chairman represented His Majesty the Sultan at UNFCCC on November 15, 2016 and participated in the 22nd Conference of the Parties (COP 22) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which was held in the city of Marrakech.

▶State Council chairman at the fourth Africa-Arab Summit represented His Majesty the Sultan on November 21, 2016 and led the sultanate’s delegation in the fourth Africa-Arab Summit, held on November 22 and 23 in Equatorial Guinea.

▶State Council chairman represents His Majesty the Sultan and attended the Extraordinary Islamic Summit held in Jakarta on March 7, 2017.

▶State Council chairman led the parliamentary delegation to Pakistan to promote parliamentary relations on January 11, 2017.

Official hosting facts

▶ H E Dr Fuad bin Ja’afar bin Mohammed al Sajwani, Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries was hosted to facilitate interaction with ministries.

▶ Hosted National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) and Oman Centre for Governance and Sustainability (OCGS) officials.

State Council, has formed five friendship committees with its counterparts in the parliaments of brotherly and friendly countries, in order to strengthen and develop inter-parliamentary relations and facilitate the exchange of information and experiences between them and to enhance the sultanate’s relations with those countries.

Meetings

▶The Omani side of the OmaniPolish Friendship group held two meetings.

▶The Omani side of the OmaniJordanian Friendship group held three meetings.

▶The Omani side of the OmaniMorocco Friendship group held two meetings.

▶The Omani side of the OmaniBelarus Friendship group held one meeting.

▶The Omani side of the OmaniPakistan Friendship Group held one meeting.

Visits

▶ The delegation of the Polish side of the parliamentary friendship committee between the State Council and the Polish Senate visited the sultanate between February 7 to 9, 2017.

▶ The delegation of the Morocco side of the parliamentary friendship committee between the State Council and the Council of Counselors of Morocco visited the sultanate from May 24 to 26 2017.

▶ The Omani delegation of the Omani-Jordanian Friendship group visited Jordon in response to an official invite received from Jordanian Senate from April 9 to 13, 2017.

Participations

▶ The council was represented several times at the Arab Parliament by the State Council members, Musallam bin Ali al Maashani, member of the Foreign affairs, Politics and Arab National Security committee and Khamis bin Said al Sulaimi, member of Social Affairs, Education, Culture, and Woman and Youth committee at the Arab Parliament. Maashani was elected to the position of Vice President in the elections of the Arab Parliament on December 10 .

▶ Dr Suad bint Mohammed al Lawatiyah, deputy chairperson of the State Council headed the Omani delegation that took part in the International Summit of Female Parliamentary Leaders in Abu Dhabi. The summit was hosted by the Federal National Council of the United Arab Emirates and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) under the theme ‘United for Shaping the Future’. ▶ Sultanate of Oman participated in General Assembly of the Secretaries General (ASGP) meetings in Geneva on the sidelines of Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) meetings from October 24-26. The Omani delegation was headed by Dr Khalid bin Salim al Saidi, secretary general of the State Council. Dr Saidi reviewed the setting up of the training centre at the Council of Oman, with the aim of providing training on parliamentary work.

▶ Adulqadir Salim Abdullah al Dhahab, State Council member received the Gold Award for Excellence at the 24th Arab Parliament Conference held in Rabat, Morocco on March 21, 2017.

Dr Raya bint Salim al Manthriya won the membership of the Executive Committee of the parliamentary forum of Youth of the Inter-Parliamentary Union represented within the Arab group participating in the 136th session of the IPU conference, held from April 1-5 in Dhaka, Bangladesh.

Events

▶ State Council chairman attends the unveiling of the national Tanfeedh programme at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre on November 28. ▶Co▶ncil of Oman organises 1st Panel Session on Legislative Cycle of Laws at the Council of Oman.

▶State Council members visited the National Museum of Oman. ▶ State Council and SQU sign cooperation programme.

▶ The State Council conducted a seminar titled ‘The Role of the Traffic Law in Reducing Accidents and Saving Life and Property’ and hosted an exhibition. ▶ The Council carried out 27 training programmes to develop the skills of its members and staff to improve their performance and positively affect the work of the council. The council also sent a number of its staff to complete their university and graduate studies.

Outreach programme

The State Council places high priority on disseminating accurate information about governance in Oman. To facilitate this, it has in place an outreach programme, which allows academic institutions and organisations to coordinate, and organise visits to State Council. It deals with imparting information on the council to schools and organisations. 2016-17 saw 271 school students, 224 college students visit the State Council to gain parliamentary awareness.

Engagement

The State Council disseminates information through various platforms on social media about its performance.

The council’s tweets numbered 568, Arabic Facebook uploads were 408, English Facebook uploads totalled 190 and Instagram posts were 541 in 2016-17.