Oman Offers 36 Investment Opportunities for $4 Bn

The Omani Investment Authority (OIA) offers investment opportunities covering several sectors in the Sultanate (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Omani Investment Authority (OIA) offers investment opportunities covering several sectors in the Sultanate (Asharq Al-Awsat)
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Oman Offers 36 Investment Opportunities for $4 Bn

The Omani Investment Authority (OIA) offers investment opportunities covering several sectors in the Sultanate (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Omani Investment Authority (OIA) offers investment opportunities covering several sectors in the Sultanate (Asharq Al-Awsat)

Oman Investment Authority (OIA) announced 36 investment opportunities worth about $4 billion and covering various industries.

OIA’s Director General of Economic Diversification, Hisham bin Ahmed al-Sheedi, said these investment opportunities would potentially ensure better alignment and synergy between OIA and other government and private entities.

Sheedi noted that the opportunities are distributed across vital investment sectors, including technology, utilities (electricity), tourism, fisheries, food, mining, and health.

In an interview published in OIA’s first quarter 2023 newsletter, “Injaz & Ijaz,” Sheedi pointed out that the investments on offer were just an initial list likely to increase based on the current and future viability studies.

He noted that specialists in the lounge would explain investment opportunities to the investor as a first step.

The list features numerous IT projects such as programming, engineering solutions, blockchains, and tourism projects, including the 3rd phase of Yiti and Yankit Sustainable City, a multi-facility entertainment destination in Barka and a Logistic Gate project at the Economic Free Zone within Muscat International Airport.

The list also includes several food security and fisheries projects, including fish and shrimp farming, fattening tuna in large floating cages, three factories for canning and packaging marine products, and fish feed production.

The list contains mining projects such as industrial minerals, copper, magnesium, and silicon.



EU Urges Immediate Halt to Israel-Hezbollah War

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
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EU Urges Immediate Halt to Israel-Hezbollah War

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, left, meets with Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih Berri, right, in Beirut, Lebanon, Sunday, Nov. 24, 2024. (AP)

Top EU diplomat Josep Borrell called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hezbollah war while on a visit to Lebanon on Sunday, as the group claimed attacks deep into Israel.  

The Israeli military said Iran-backed Hezbollah fired around 160 projectiles into Israel during the day. Some of them were intercepted but others caused damage to houses in central Israel, according to AFP images.  

A day after the health ministry said Israeli strikes on Beirut and across Lebanon killed 84 people, state media reported two strikes on Sunday on the capital's southern suburbs, a Hezbollah stronghold.

Israel's military said it had attacked "headquarters" of the group "hidden within civilian structures" in south Beirut.

War between Israel and Hezbollah escalated in late September, nearly a year after the group began launching strikes in solidarity with its Palestinian ally Hamas following that group's October 7 attack on Israel.

The conflict has killed at least 3,754 people in Lebanon since October 2023, according to the health ministry, most of them since September.  

On the Israeli side, authorities say at least 82 soldiers and 47 civilians have been killed.  

Earlier this week, US special envoy Amos Hochstein said in Lebanon that a truce deal was "within our grasp" and then headed to Israel for talks with officials there.  

In the Lebanese capital, Borrell held talks with parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, who has led mediation efforts on behalf of ally Hezbollah.

"We see only one possible way ahead: an immediate ceasefire and the full implementation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701," Borrell said.  

"Lebanon is on the brink of collapse", he warned.  

Under Resolution 1701, which ended the last Hezbollah-Israel war of 2006, Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only armed forces present in the southern border area.  

The resolution also called for Israel to withdraw troops from Lebanon, and reiterated earlier calls for "disarmament of all armed groups in Lebanon."