Sultanate ranked 5th on Arab level in labour market efficiency

DEAD SEA: As delegated by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, Dr Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce and Industry, and Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Council for Planning, led the Sultanate’s delegation taking part in the World Economic Forum (WEF) on Middle East and North Africa (MENA), currently being held in the Dead Sea at the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan under the theme ‘Enabling Generations for the Future’.

The Omani delegation participated in panel discussions on the developments and challenges facing MENA region including the future of industry, the expected outcomes of what is called the fourth industrial revolution, which will affect the current technologies and its relationship with society, market, encouraging entrepreneurship, enhancing comprehensive growth through modern technology, innovation and commercial arbitration.

Th e delegation also took part in a number of meetings on the level of ministers and CEOs on facilitating trade, investment, the future of e-finance, supporting entrepreneurship, the bankruptcy laws, quick processing of licenses and labor laws. The report pointed out that Climate change is poised to exacerbate water crises and extreme weather events and might lead to a failure in adaptation. The rise of cyber dependency — driven by the increased use of information and communication technologies (ICTs), robotics and artificial intelligence — exposes countries to the risk of data fraud, cyber- attacks and breakdowns of critical information infrastructure. The increase in income and wealth disparities and polarization of societies is feeding social instability and unemployment in many parts of the world.