Oman making headway in balanced integration

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil — The final round of the preparatory meetings for the Sustainable Development Summit (RIO+20) scheduled to be held from June 20 to 22, began yesterday at Rio de Janeiro with wide participation of many countries and international organisations.

The Sultanate takes part in this round with a technical delegation headed by Najib bin Ali al Rowas, Adviser of the Environment and Climate Affairs

Ministry, and representatives of Environment and Climate Affairs Ministry, Foreign Ministry, Tourism Ministry, Social Development Ministry, Housing Ministry, Education Ministry, Oil and Gas Ministry, Regional Municipalities and Water Resources Ministry, Commerce and Industry Ministry, Information Ministry, Environment Conservation Office affiliated to the Diwan of Royal Court, Public Authority for Radio and Television (PART), Research Council, Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) and the Environment Society of Oman (ESO).

Al Rowas said that the Sultanate is making much headway in achieving the balanced integration for the economic, social and environmental aspects despite the challenges posed by the current global crises. He added that Oman Vision 2020 provides the framework for continuing the enhancement of balance and integration among the three dimensions for sustainable development and meeting the 21st Millennium Development Goals (MDG).

He pointed out that the Sultanate has made great achievements in achieving the eight MDGs in different economic, social, developmental, cultural, environmental and educational aspects of life. He added that the progress made in achieving the goals of sustainable development has been measured using the indicators proposed by the UN Commission on Sustainable Development.

Al Rowas added that the developmental stage (19962020) aims at achieving sustainable development through diversifying sources of national economy and reducing reliance on oil as the sole source of national economy. This stage also focuses on turning to knowledge-based economy through continuous programmes for human resources development and rehabilitation of the national manpower in a manner that meet needs of the knowledge economy.

He pointed out that the Sultanate has adopted a policy for ensuring balanced distribution of investments in all governorates in the Sultanate. — ONA