Turtle-Watching Tourists Crowd Shores of Oman

Greenback's in Oman

Peak Season Now

The peak of turtle-watching season has reached Oman. For the best view of this spectacular sight it is recommended to visit Ras al Hadd on the Indian Ocean between the months of July and October to witness the landing of more than 50,000 sea turtles that will be breeding and laying their eggs.

Protected Harbor

Ras al Hadd is a beautiful protected harbor which is a primary breeding ground for mainly Greenback turtles who lay an estimated 50,000 to 60,000 egg clutches each year which is probably the largest number of any country along the Indian Ocean.

Greenbacks are Rare

Rare Baby Greenback Turtles Heading for the Sea

Greenbacks are among one of the sea’s most endangered species, and it is for this reason that the Sultanate of Oman has closed all 275 of its turtle nesting beaches in an effort to protect the delicate habitat in which the turtles need to breed.

The protected beaches are strewn with turtle pits which reach high above the waterline. Greenback turtles are the sea’s fastest turtles, reaching swimming speeds of up to 32 km/hour (20 miles per hour.)

BMW Sales Surge in First Half of 2011 in Middle East

BMW Group Middle East

BMW topped their record 2010 sales year with an even better showing in the first half of 2011. The high-end auto distributed by the BMW Group Middle East posted a 13% increase in sales compared to the same time period last year.

Total sales amounted to 9,134 BMW and mini vehicles in 14 separate markets throughout the Middle East.

Overall sales results point to a vigorous market with sustainable growth in the foreseeable future.

• Abu Dhabi had the highest sales volume, selling 2,247 cars representing a 32% increase in sales;
• Dubai had 29% growth with 2,014 cars;
• Saudi Arabia’s market increased by 14%, a total of 1,684 vehicles;
• Kuwait’s sales increased by 13% in the first half of 2011.

The Director of Sales and Marketing for the BMW Group Middle East, Reiner Braun, said,

“Thanks to the continued commitment and dedication of our importers, the company’s ongoing investment into new technologies such as BMW ConnectedDrive and the diversity of our portfolio, we continue to provide Middle East customers the very best in sheer driving pleasure. However, we do not see success as an invitation for complacency and watching our business grow only motivates us to do even better in the coming months.”

High Unemployment Rates in Bahrain and Oman

The asset management firm Al Masah Capital published a report revealing that Oman and Bahrain have the highest unemployment rates than other Gulf countries.

The Great Job Rush

The Dubai-headquartered firm released ‘MENA: The Great Job Rush’, which described rates of 15% unemployment in each of the two Gulf states. In comparison, neighboring Qatar has an unemployment rate of 0.5%.

Saudi Arabia also revealed its own high unemployment rate of 10.8% while in the midst of a program of nationalization designed to help reduce this rate.
Kuwait’s jobless rate is also low, hovering at about 2.2%.

The report stated that “there is an urgent need for action.”

“Joblessness is a structural problem, particularly among the youth in the region. Short term solutions will not remove problems which took generations to fester. Deep structural changes are required, changes that go to the heart of cultural mentality.”

The MENA region has the highest unemployment rate in the world, with North Africa at 9.8% and the Middle East at 10.3%.

Youth Hit Hard

Saudi Arabia faces a serious unemployment problem among the young of the nation. The Kingdom’s youth are out of work at a rate double that of the global rate of jobless people, at 25.9% compared to 12.6% for the rest of the world.

A report of the World Bank published in 2003 predicted that the MENA region will need to create about 100 million new jobs during the 20 years between 2000 and 2020 in order to overcome a severe unemployment crisis.

Shura Elections Attract Record Number of Women Candidates

Shura Council

Out of a total of 1306 candidates who will be competing for the 84 seats of the seventh term of the Majlis Asshura, a record number of 82 women will participate.

Elections Evolving

Oman held open elections for the first time in 2003. In those elections 13 women competed for the 83 seats on the Shura, with only two of them succeeding. Since that time the process of electing the Shura council has changed, and today every citizen older than 21 has the right to vote.

The last elections were held in 2007, when the advisory Shura council increases its number of seats from 83 to 84. In that year 717 candidates vied for membership, 21 of them women. None of those women made it to the Shura that year.

Reforms Incorporated

This year’s election will incorporate changes which Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed granted as part of reforms which came in the wake of the “Arab Spring” unrest which spread throughout many middle eastern countries, including Oman. The newly elected Shura will have, for the first time, legislative and regulatory powers as part of its membership in the greater body of the Council of Oman.

Hi-Tech Campaigning

Last year candidates were, for the first time, allowed to hang campaign posters, banners and advertisements in newspapers and other local media outlets. This year there are even more reforms in the campaign methods, including the use of SMS messages, electronic media for advertising, use of the internet to get the word out about each candidate and more.

Elections will most likely be held in October, but a precise date has not yet been established.

China Surpassing Japan in Economic Outlook

While all eyes have been on Japan’s economic outlook for years, it’s time to turn that perspective towards China.  As many investors such as ARC Investment Partners understand, China is actually expected to surpass Japan as the world’s top consumer of luxury goods by 2012, and this is just one example of their economic momentum.  According to the World Luxury Association, there is growing demand in China for such goods, and a decreased consumption in Japan.

In a survey they released in Beijing, the WLA predicted that luxury goods in the Chinese market (not including private jets, yachts, and luxury cars) will get to $14.6 billion in 2012.  In the 13 month period from February 2010 to March of 2011, it was $10.7 billion.

As Michael Ouyang, the Chief of World Luxury Association China office said, “China has been rising with the fastest annual growth.”

In important news for investment groups like ARC Investment Partners with Adam Roseman, Mr. Ouyang also said that companies that have opened stores in China’s first-tier cities will have even more opportunities in the second and third-tier cities.

Certainly, the economic problems in Japan with luxury sale items can be partly explained by the devastating earthquake in March.  49% of brand stores had to stop business for one month following the earthquake, as the survey pointed out. Not only does the World Luxury Association expect this slump in the Japan market to continue for a year, but it predicts that 70% of brands will move their commercial plans to China as a result.

Sony Gulf Introduces Bravia Internet TV Into MENA Region

The leading consumer electronics brand, Sony Gulf, introduced into the region on Sunday, July 3rd, their latest offering of high-tech development, namely, the Bravia line of TVs.

Projected Sales in Millions

Sony Gulf is projecting sales for the coming year in the Middle East and African region to be upwards of 2.5 million units, explaining that this new genre of Internet TV will grab about 40% of the total sales of television products.

Sony Gulf’s Bravia will be available in 24 TV models, 19 of which are able to support internet connectivity. These models are part of Sony’s international campaign of “Television Redefined,” basing its appeal on the desire of consumers to have a TV which can easily accommodate the constantly changing variety of hi-tech home entertainment.

New Technology

There are three pillars on which rest the foundation of the new Sony TV products: Connectivity to the internet, networking capabilities, and 3-Dimensional viewing. The display is based on a totally new ‘picture-enhancement’ technology called X-Reality. X-Reality creates realistic, high-definition and 3D video, but can also enhance the picture quality of poor resolution internet content.

The managing director of Sony Gulf, Osamu Miura said during the introduction of the new Bravia models that, “As viewers shift their preferences across different forms of entertainment available at home; the ability to provide a platform for watching HDTV or 3DTV, or enjoying apps and browsing the Internet seamlessly on one device is crucial. Our Sony Internet TV is a revolutionary range that meets this hi-tech consumer demand and provides a one-on-one relationship with content. It is truly ‘Television Redefined’.”

3DTV

Miura added,

“We also launched the next phase of our 3D strategy in earlier this year, where we see 3D becoming more personal. We will add more 3D products including 3D movies, music, games and television programming to further cement our leadership position in this segment. Consumers will be able to capture personal 3D content in the highest quality format and easily play it back on our expanding line of 3D enabled Bravia TVs.”

Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry Forms New Board

Last Tuesday the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, (OCCI) elected a new board consisting of 15 businessmen.

Looking Towards Future

There is much optimism in the business community of Oman as the new board takes charge in the aftermath of what has been a large and protracted nationwide agitation by workers from many sectors. This leaves the new board with a great challenge; how to bring together the private sector businessmen to create an atmosphere of trust and confidence to find workable solutions for their issues with the government, one of the most difficult being issues related to employment.

Drawing Foreign Invesment

Another great challenge for the board will be to find creative ways to attract foreign direct investment through advising the government on the best methods to achieve this goal. It is believed by most members of the business community that direct foreign investment is one of the keys to development of the Omani economy.

Next Board Election in 2014

The 15 new board members were elected from a pool of 59 total candidates. They will serve on the OCCI for a term of four years, from 2011 until 2014.

There are a total of 22 seats on the board of the OCCI- 15 elected and the rest nominated through a royal decree.

This was the first year in the history of the OCCI that the election was conducted in a transparent fashion using and electronic counting machine.

“This also helps to announce the results faster,”

said the director general of the chamber, Abdul Adheen Abbas Al Bahrani, about the machine.

Oman Posted Strong Revenue Growth in 2010

Revenues Up

Compared to what was expected for 2010 there has been a significant increase in the real budget revenue as well as expenditures in Oman over the past year.

Government revenue expanded by 24% to RO 7916.5 million in comparison to the expected budgetary estimate of RO 6380 million.

Expenditures, Too

Government expenditures also rose, by 11% to 7965.3 million from RO 7180. These figures were supplied by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO.)

The exceptional growth in income was credited mostly to an increase in the price of crude oil in the international marketplace.

Price of Oil Up

According to the CBO, Oman’s average price for crude oil increased by 35.2% to a high of $76.64 per barrel in 2010 up from $56.67 per barrel.Exports rose by 10.6% as well.

The production of natural gas also rose during 2010, by 7.2%, which also contributed to the rise in government revenues.

Oman’s Human Rights Committee Examines Abuse Cases

Oman’s National Committee for Human Rights will be dealing with as many as 200 reported cases of rights abuses in the time period from January to May of 2011.

Committee Directly Deals with Abuse

The abuses complained of include human trafficking and other civil rights violations. The committee is investigating the allegations directly but in coordination with the relevant government bodies.

New Head of Committee

Jihad Al Taye is the secretary-general of the committee. He was appointed at the recently held second session of the panel, replacing Rasheed Al Huraibi, who is the new head of the Tender Board.

The committee also conducts visits to prisons, keeping close watch over the treatment of the inmates to assure their rights are protected as well.

Citizens Can Feel Secure

Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said

The deputy prime minister for the Council of Ministers, His Highness Sayyid Fahd bin Mahmoud Al Said, has proclaimed that citizens of Oman can feel confident in the knowledge that their rights as citizens of Oman are safe and secure.

“The human rights in the Sultanate are secured by the principles of the Basic Law of the State and national laws and regulations, as also by the Sultanate’s joining a number of international conventions and charters,” Sayyid Fahd reiterated.

Human Rights Top Priority in Oman

The Human Rights Committee was created to guarantee that the right of citizens will always be protected by the state, emphasized Sayyid Fahd.

The committee has urged the government departments to correct any inconsistencies or irregularities concerning human rights under their purview.

The committee is also aligned with international human rights organizations with which they exchange opinions and information.

Oman Pledges Support to Syrian Leadership

Sultan Qaboos Bin Said of Oman sent a message of support to President Bashar al-Assad of Syria via the Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi during his visit to Damascus this past week.

Omani Foreign Minister Yusuf bin Alawi

The Syrian president and the Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem met with bin Alawi to discuss the latest events taking place in the region with an emphasis on the developments now in Libya and Yemen.

Crisis in Syria Discussed

The leaders discussed the volatile situation in Syria as well. President al-Assad told Alawi about the violence which is being perpetrated by armed, organized groups who are specifically targeting Syria’s security and its citizens.

President al-Assad explained to the Omani delegation that he is confident that Syria will be able to deal with the present crisis and come out stronger and more united when control is regained.

Oman Pledges Support for Syria

Bin Alawi was also told about the reforms which Syria is beginning to institute by the Syrian leadership. The Omani Foreign Minister pledged total support of and confidence in Syria from Oman, explaining that Oman stands together with Syria against the destabilizing efforts of the opposition and the terrorism they are committing against the Syrian people.

In recent months the Syrian president has received letters from several kings and leaders of Arab countries pledging their complete and total support of the security and stability of Syria.