times of oman - march 27, 2016
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Times of Oman - March 27, 2016TRANSCRIPT
Founded 1975 . Volume 41 No. | Pages . Baisas 200 . Subscription OMR63 | ISO 9001:2008 Certified Company | Chairman/Editor-in-Chief: Mohamed Issa Al Zadjali | Printed & Published by Muscat Media Group
March 27, 2016 18 Jumada Al Thani 1437 AH
SUNDAY
29 44
A5
Halima’s success story motivating women
OMANTime to give foreign investors bigger role
1Three decades after the plans were unveiled to let foreign investors take a leading role, very few steps have been taken in that direction. >A2
T O P T H R E E I N S I D E S T O R I E S
Clear pay structure can boost economy
REJIMON KFAHAD AL [email protected] [email protected]
MUSCAT: A salary structure scale based on educational qualifica-tions in the private sector will help ensure increased productiv-ity and encourage more job aspir-ants to embrace the private sector, say experts.
“Having a clear and defined salary structure scale is needed across the private sector. This will encourage job aspirants to join the sector. The new labour law in the pipeline should contain Articles defining the salary structure scale in the private sector. This will en-sure clarity and help employees to avoid confusion,” Mohammed Al Khaldi, board member of General Federation of Oman Trade Union (GFOTU), told Times of Oman.
According to data issued by the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI) in February, there are 209,544 Omanis (in-sured) and 1,388,277 expatriate workers in the private sector.
However, a top official of the Ministry of Manpower said this is not a decision to be taken by the Ministry of Manpower. “The private sector is an open market and imposing a defined salary structure might interfere in the business of companies,” said Said Salem Al Saadi, advisor to the Minister of Manpower.
He added that such things should remain open for companies to decide upon. >A6
A well defined salary
structure laid down in
a new labour law for
the private sector will
help avoid confusion,
make the sector more
acceptable to youth
and raise productivity
MORNING MINUTE
GEARING UP: New terminal will be operational either by the end of 2016 or early 2017. – File picture
Low cost airline to use existing terminalA E [email protected]
MUSCAT: Muscat Interna-tional Airport’s existing termi-nal will be used for operating low cost airlines once the new terminal building becomes op-erational, said a senior official of Oman Airports Management Company (OAMC).
The plan is to revive the exist-ing airport, which is called termi-nal two, for budget airlines, while the newly built terminal one will receive all other airlines.
According to recent reports, the new terminal will be opera-tional either by the end of 2016 or early 2017 since 86 per cent of the new terminal building work has already been completed.
The new state-of-the-art ter-minal has a capacity to handle 12 million passengers per annum, which can be scaled up to 24 mil-lion, 36 million and 48 million in different phases if needed.
Since Oman plans to start its first budget airline – Salam Air – with its base in Muscat within a year, and several other budget
carriers are flying to Muscat, the existing terminal is expect-ed to get enough passengers to keep it busy.
Budget carriers like flydubai, Air Arabia and Air India Express have been operating to Muscat for several years.
The old runway will be demol-ished to create a new one, which will result in the airport having two runways.
“We have opened the new run-way. We are refurbishing the old one and we will have two run-ways at the Muscat airport,” said
Aimen Ahmed Al Hosni, chief executive officer, Oman Airports Management Company.
Ground handling operatorsAl Hosni, while making a pres-entation at the recently con-cluded Oman Economic Fo-rum, said that his company has floated tenders to select two ground handling operators for Muscat airport, who will com-pete each other.
This will help to generate bet-ter results for both passengers and airlines. >A6
New hospital plans to charge only OMR1 consultation feeA E [email protected]
MUSCAT: Shifa Al Jazeera medical group, which plans to open a major hospital accessible to the common man in Ruwi in October, plans to charge a nomi-nal fee of OMR1 for consulta-tion, subject to approval from the Ministry of Health.
This is against the normal av-erage consultation fee of other hospitals ranging anywhere be-tween OMR3 and OMR5.
For all specialtiesAddressing the media to an-nounce the opening of two hos-pitals and one polyclinic, Dr. K T Rabeeullah, chairman and man-aging director of Shifa Al Jazeera Medical Group, said the offer, if approved by the government, will be available for all special-ties at the Shifa Al Jazeera Ac-cess Hospital in Ruwi.
“We are not anticipating profit from our Ruwi hospital in
the first year. If we can achieve break-even in the first year, we will continue the offer,” he fur-ther added. Dr Rabeeullah said his group has to get permission from the government for fixing such a low consultation fees.
He also noted that there would
be resistance from existing hos-pital chains against the new offer.
He said his hospital chain will try to avoid all unwanted tests and will try to make available all medicines at an affordable cost. All these will benefit the com-mon people in Oman.
S H I F A A L J A Z E E R A
OMANRoaming rates to fall
2 Omani citizens and residents travelling in Gulf Cooperation
Council countries will now enjoy reduced roaming prices for SMS and mobile data >A3
BUSINESSDry port licence
3A licence to operate Oman’s first dry port, which is the centre piece
of South Al Batinah Logistics Area, will be awarded either in April or May. >B1
We have to develop and diversify our economic resources in order to lessen dependence on oil, and to secure for our national economy a solid basis from which to face the unstable international economic conditions and fluctuations in the world oil market.
To the members of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry at Al Alam Palace, 1990
FROM THE WORDS OF HIS MAJESTYTHE SULTAN
‘His Majesty’s Wisdom’
We are not anticipating profit from our Ruwi hospital in the first year.
Dr. K T RabeeullahChairman and managing director of Shifa Al Jazeera Medical Group
A2 S U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
OMAN
The Sultanate has not yet used smart thinking to max-imise efficiency of its resources
and this is one reason why the country has not attracted for-eign investments to diversify its oil dependent economy.
Oman needs a whole new perspective to the economy of scales by exploring alternative methods. Three decades after the plans were unveiled to let foreign investors take a lead-ing role, very few steps have been taken in that direction. The Sultanate will not keep producing oil and gas for a long time. With limited output, crude oil productions have not crossed the million barrels per day threshold. If Saudi Arabia, a super producer with the largest reserves in the word is being forced on its knees, how could Oman bank its economy on such unpredictability?
Rather than tinkering around the edges, the only way forward is to finish what has been started by having more faith on foreign investments. To start with, the government has to remove all the barriers and leave it open to interna-tional manufacturers. The bureaucratic climate must change. Investors are watching and what they see is a maze of business hostility. The few investors who are here are attracted to the fact that Oman is politically stable. But that is never enough. They have one
question in their mind. Why should they invest their money in Oman when they can do the same thing in a more open mindset environment?
They also see legislative unpredictability. For example, they see the ownership system in Oman non-competitive compared to other countries. The regulative environment is also another factor that hinders foreign cash flow into the country. Foreign investors have no objection of recruit-ing Omanis but the country does not have enough supply of skilled workers. Yet, the government insists on impos-ing mandatory recruitment of local manpower to a high level.
But above all, infrastructure is a major obstacle to bring in serious investors. Oman has excellent connectivity in Mus-cat but not beyond the borders of the capital. The other thing that has been working against business progress in the Sultanate is the technology. Local companies do not have enough capital to invest in the state of art equipment. At the same time, the government is reluctant to give incentives to technological companies to make the country competitive. Latest technologies effectively link up local firms with foreign partners to transfer skills and raise productivity.
Not all international com-panies would come here with bags of cash. Some can bring in the needed knowledge, skills and expertise and transfer them to the local business environment. For this category of investments, easy access of capital is important. At the moment, government funding is wholly reserved to Omani companies. Local banks are not big enough to lend multi-mil-lion investments and they are reluctant to do it, anyway.
Foreign companies that pulled out in the past had
concerns on the protection-ism of local firms. For example, government owned organiza-tions enjoy unlimited subsidies. Foreign companies cannot compete in such business environment. Binding tariffs should be equally applied to all trading companies without any exceptions. Government owned companies should not enjoy special privileges or incen-tives. Business protectionism makes local companies survive but the action does not benefit long-term economic viability of the country. It restricts capital movement, limits business expansion and slows down employment. Besides, Oman cannot anymore dig into its financial reserves to keep sup-porting state-owned companies now that fiscal deficits are rising. It makes sense to remove that burden by dismantling the protectionism regime.
The Sultanate cannot any more afford to sit and wait. The existing rudimentary invest-ment plans obviously do not work. To learn the lessons from a neighboring country, Oman needs to promote itself to the international markets in a different way to lure in investors. Changing invest-ments rules and tweaking on taxation laws are not enough. Global promotional cam-paigns are needed. World class activities planned the whole year like trade exhibitions and investment promotions at a global scale will put Oman in the world map. Such activities turn the heads of investment heavyweights when a country has a full calendar of world class events.
Oman losing its competitive edge on foreign investment
C O M M E N T A R Y
SALEH AL SHAIBANY
SUNDAYBEAT
H AV E YOU R SAY AT T W I T T E R.CO M /T I M ES O F O M A N O R S CA N T H E CO D E TO I N STA N T LY P O ST YOU R T H O U G H TS .
October date for Shifa Al Jazeera hospital in Ruwi
MUSCAT: Shifa Al Jazeera, a well-established hospital chain the Gulf region, will open its first premium polyclinic in Al Khuwair on June 24 and a hospital in Ruwi in October.
Further, a new premium hospi-tal with 200 beds is planned in Al Khoud, which will open its doors for patients in 2017.
The Saudi-based hospital chain said its Ruwi hospital with 140 beds is aiming at making health-
care accessible to common man, while Al Khuwair Polyclinic is for premium customers.
“Our Ruwi hospital (Shifa Al Ja-zeera Access Hospital) is for com-mon people, while Al Khuwair polyclinic and Al Khoud hospi-tal are for premium customers,” said Dr. K T Rabeeullah, chair-man and managing director of Shifa Al Jazeera Medical Group. Also, the Ruwi hospital will have two ambulances, which will be available 24/7, and two floors are for parking.
Further, the group plans to open ten premium polyclinics called Badar Al Thamam polyclinic, in tie-up with Badar Al Thamam group. These polyclinics, which will be opened on January 1, 2017, are planned in Amerat, Al Bhubra, Mabela, Sur, Ibra, Buraimi, So-har, Falaj, Saham and Nizwa. Dr. Rabeeullah will be the chairman of these clinics, eminent Muscat-based industrialist Abdulrazak Haji will be the vice-chairman and Aslam backer will be the chief ex-ecutive officer of this venture. All these healthcare centres will cater to the needs of more than 10,000 patients across the country.
Rabeeullah said his group is in-vesting OMR26 million for build-ing two hospitals and one polyclin-ic, while the capital expenditure for building ten polyclinics will be around OMR12 million.
The group will conduct health-care seminars and awareness programmes at the hospital audi-torium every month, which will be conducted by eminent doctors from different parts of the world.
Also, plans are afoot to distrib-ute 500,000 special medical cards from Al Khuwair Polyclinic. This card will enable the patients to get a 20 per cent discount on X-Ray fee and lab tests at Ruwi hospital.
Al Khuwair Polyclinic will be opened by South Indian star Mam-mootty, while Ruwi hospital will be inaugurated by Mammootty, along with his son cine artist Dulkar Sal-man and singer Shreya Goshal.
Dr. Rabeeullah said that 10 per cent of the revenue generated from Shifa Al Jazeera Access Hospital in Ruwi will be contributed for supporting the needy in the region. A committee comprising three members will be appointed to se-lect the beneficiaries and ensure transparency in the functioning.
The group’s premium
polyclinic will open
in Al Khuwair on
June 24 and another
hospital in Al Khoud
in 2017
HEALTHCARE: The group plans to open ten premium polyclinics called Badar Al Thamam polyclinic,
in tie-up with Badar Al Thamam group. These polyclinics, which will be opened on January 1, 2017, are
planned in Amerat, Al Bhubra, Mabela, Sur, Ibra, Buraimi, Sohar, Falaj, Saham and Nizwa. – OK Mohammed Ali
Our Ruwi hospital (Shifa Al Jazeera Access Hospital) is
for common people, while Al Khuwair polyclinic and Al
Khoud hospital are for premium customers
Dr. K T Rabeeullah, CMD Shifa Al Jazeera Medical Group
A3
OMANS U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
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Roaming rates for GCC set to go down from April 1Times News Service
MUSCAT: Omani citizens and residents travelling in Gulf Coop-eration Council (GCC) countries will now enjoy reduced roaming prices for SMS and mobile data, in addition to further reductions in voice call prices, the Telecom-munications Regulatory Author-ity (TRA) has announced.
The new price caps will be ef-fective starting April 1. Price caps for mobile data while roaming (per Megabyte) as of April 1, will be 500bz.
The reduction in data roam-ing services prices, when com-pared with the current charges in Oman ranges from 7 per cent while roaming in Saudi Arabia, to 93 per cent while roaming in Kuwait.
Price caps for SMS sent while roaming (per SMS) will be 0.031bz. The reduction in the prices of SMS services when
compared with current charges in Oman, ranges between 35 per cent while roaming in Saudi Ara-bia and 87 per cent while roam-ing in Kuwait.
Price caps for calls received while roaming (per minute) will be 135bz. The reduction in pric-es of calls received when com-pared with the current prevailing charges in Oman will be up to 76 per cent for receiving calls while roaming in Kuwait.
Price caps for local calls within the visited country while roam-ing (per minute) will be 100bz. At present the rate is 106bz. Calls to other GCC member states, in-cluding the home country will cost 246bz.
This reduction comes follow-ing an initiative of cooperation signed between the GCC regula-tors under the umbrella of the GCC General Secretariat to regu-late the prices of roaming ser-vices within the Gulf countries,
and is aimed at facilitating the availability of roaming services within reasonable and affordable price levels, in view of the expect-ed positive impact on enhancing social ties and economic integra-tion between the GCC counties.
The first roaming regulation, which covered only voice calls made while roaming, was imple-mented gradually over a two-year period, with full implementation in February 2012.
New price caps for roaming charges were approved by the GCC Ministerial Committee for Post, Telecommunications and Information Technology during its 24th meeting in Doha last year.
Reductions of roaming charg-es for both inter-operator whole-sale level and end user retail level will take place gradually, over a three-year period, for voice calls and SMS services, and over a five-year period for the mobile data service.
T R A A N N O U N C E M E N T
Omani-Indian trade event on March 30Times News Service
MUSCAT: In association with the Oman Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (OCCI), the Indian Embassy in Muscat, is organising a trade and in-vestment promotion event on March 30.
The focus of the event will be on healthcare, food industry, information technology, mining and minerals and the construc-tion and infrastructure sectors.
The business-to-business (B2B) meeting will be held at the Hotel Crowne Plaza, Muscat on March 30 from 9 am. Omani enterprises dealing in the above mentioned sectors have been invited to attend the B2B meet-ing with Indian companies.
The purpose is to provide Indian companies from these sectors a platform to explore opportunities for exports, busi-ness tie-ups, investments and project work in Oman.
Sixty Indian companies have already indicated their pres-ence. For further information and details they should contact [email protected] or call at 00968-24684326.
Apex Chambers in India, such as the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Federation of Indian Export Organisation (FIEO), the National Associa-tion of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM) and the Trade Promotion Council of India (TPCI) will be organising delegations of Indian compa-nies to showcase their products and services in the afore-men-tioned sectors for Omani busi-ness enterprises.
Briefing seminarThe Embassy will also host a briefing seminar for Indian en-terprises at the Embassy’s au-ditorium to make them aware of the opportunities in Oman for exports, project work and investments. Omani corporates active in the above sectors will make presentations to repre-sentatives of the participating Indian companies.
India and Oman, maritime neighbours, enjoy excellent po-litical relations. Under their strategic partnership, coopera-tion and exchanges between the two countries have been expand-ing. Bilateral trade, which grew to US$5.77 billion during the 2013 to 2014 period, has since been declining in value. It had amounted to U.S.$4.18 billion during the 2014 to 2015 period.
Mutual investment between Oman and India is estimated at US$7.5 billion. As per the information made available by the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of Oman, there are over 2,900 Indian enterprises in Oman with an estimated invest-ment of US$4.5 billion. Omani investments in India are pegged at US$3 billion.
There is a huge potential for collaboration between India and Oman in the healthcare, IT, food processing, construction and infrastructure and mineral and mining sectors.
O C C I - E M B A S S Y E V E N T
A4 S U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
OMANTurtle reserve readies for nesting time rush
Times News Service
MUSCAT: It is always thrilling to watch a sea turtle crawl into the Ras Al Hadd sanctuary at night and dig a large hole in the sand to lay eggs.
With the annual nesting season for sea turtles just getting under way (April to August), authori-ties are taking steps to protect the sandy beaches of the Ras Al Hadd sanctuary. While this is the peak season for turtle nesting, the weather in this area is just perfect, it is not so hot.
The authorities have asked people not to get too close, shine lights on, or take flash photos of the nesting sea turtles. “However, visitors can take photos when they go for turtle watching during the Dawn Tours after sunrise, confirmed Vijay Han-da, cluster general manager, Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve, which is part of the Ras Al Hadd sanctuary.
From April through the end of October, around 15,000 sea turtles will land in the Ras Al Hadd sanc-tuary to lay eggs.
With the sanctuary hosting one of the largest nesting aggregations in the world, this becomes an op-portunity for residents and visi-tors to play an important role in conserving these long-living rep-tiles. “Take care when you’re on a beach at night and do not disturb the nesting sea turtles,” said the head of the Guiding Department
at the Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve Centre, Nasser Zadjali.
He also said: “People can help save threatened and endangered sea turtles by giving them enough space and privacy to safely and successfully lay their eggs. It’s as simple as keeping the required dis-tance and avoiding bright lights or taking flash photos of the nesting sea turtles.”
Zadjali had previously worked with Bahwan Travels for around 11 years and currently he has been with the Nature’s Reserve for over eight years. “He has been selected as the head eco-guide for the sec-ond time. He has the rich experi-ence of leading a team of 22 eco-guides/ assistant guides as he is ready with all the answers regard-ing turtles,” said Handa.
Watching green turtles nest-
ing on the seafront, with only the roaring waves breaking the eerie silence under the moonlit night sky, is an out-of-world experience at the Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve. “However, it is advised to book in advance as only a limited number of visitors are allowed on a daily basis,” he added.
Despite travelling for more than 250 kilometres from Muscat, many people return without seeing these turtles as they forget to book in ad-vance with the Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve – which is being managed by the National Omani Hospitality Co. (Dhiaffa), a subsidiary of Omran, and is owned by Ministry of Tourism.
For the convenience of the visi-tors, the reserve also offers 31 ac-commodations,19 carapace rooms at the centre and 12 luxury eco-tents, located on a hilltop nearby.
From April through
the end of October,
around 15,000 sea
turtles will land in
the Ras Al Hadd
sanctuary to lay eggs
ANNUAL SOJOURN: With the sanctuary hosting one of the largest nesting aggregations in the world,
this becomes an opportunity for residents and visitors to play an important role in conserving these
long-living reptiles. – Supplied photo
Take care when you’re on a
beach at night and do not
disturb the nesting sea turtles,
advises the head of the Guiding
Department at the Ras Al Jinz
Turtle Reserve Centre, Nasser
Zadjali. – Supplied photo
People can help save threatened and endangered
sea turtles by giving them enough space and
privacy to safely and successfully lay their eggs.
Nasser Zadjali, head Guiding Department, Ras Al Jinz Turtle Reserve Centre
Shangri-La Muscat to host wedding fair on April 22Times News Service
MUSCAT: An exclusive Wed-ding Fair event will be hosted by Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa on Friday, April 22 at the Barr Al Jissah ballroom.
As Shangri-La Muscat has become a highly popular des-tination for weddings, locally and internationally, there’s no other perfect venue to host such an extensive Wedding Fair than the resort.
Showcasing the best the resort has to offer, coupled with the fin-est offerings of the exhibitors participating, this event should not be missed.
The Wedding Fair itself will follow an exquisite garden theme throughout and will include ex-hibitors, such as fashion design-ers, florists, photographers and events management companies. This will be a truly spectacu-lar event with special surprises
throughout the day for brides-to-be, an exclusive fashion show, as well as the opportunity to meet over 40 wedding specialists to help plan the perfect wedding.
With various picturesque wed-ding locations available within the resort, from scenic outdoor venues to the luxurious ballroom that can accommodate up to 800 guests, customised charming wedding decorations to exquisite dining offerings, weddings held at Shangri-La Barr Al Jissah Resort and Spa are magical events and create memories for a lifetime.
The event will start from 2:00 pm onwards and will be held at the Barr Al Jissah ballroom lo-cated in the Al Bandar Hotel. For more information and enquir-ies, please call the events team at +968 2477 6213 or email [email protected]. Further details about the Wedding Fair will be announced during the forthcoming weeks.
E V E N T
EXCLUSIVE AFFAIR: Showcasing the best the resort has to offer,
coupled with the finest offerings of the exhibitors participating,
this event should not be missed. — Supplied photo
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OMANS U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
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Halima success story motivating women
DEEBA [email protected]
MUSCAT: Halima Al Shezawi’s story is an inspiration for many—from being an average university graduate to becoming a source of motivation for many women across the country; Al Shezawi has shown the way.
Graduating with a Bachelors in Management from Sohar Uni-versity, Al Shezawi was registered with the Ministry of Manpower as an unemployed woman until a couple of months ago.
However, after participating in a female entrepreneurship pro-gramme conducted by SAP Mena and Oman Sail, which produced the first group of 80 young gradu-ate, unemployed Omani women in leadership, teamwork, and prob-lem-solving skills that will be es-sential to the digital economy, she
has transformed for the better.“I remember before I joined this
programme, all I ever did was to sleep, eat and wait for a job, how-ever ever since I took part in the programme, it helped me believe in myself and improve myself to the best of my abilities.”
According to Halima, the fe-male entrepreneurs programme taught her to set goals, because of which feels like she is on the way to success.
“We were taught to set goals and to follow them—this is why I set three goals for myself—to find a job, to reduce my weight and to complete my masters’ degree.”
After completing the pro-
gramme, Halima registered with a gym, and called her university to secure a place for a Masters de-gree. “Only after a week of regis-tering myself with Sohar Univer-sity, I got a call asking me to teach part-time at the University—so I started realising all my goals and it felt great.”
Al Shezawi said her parents have lent huge support to her, “My family is amazing, they sup-port women’s education and they support women for entering the workforce as well, my father sponsored my education for the Bachelors’ degree, and my mother supported me in all other ways.”
At the three-day programme, Al
Shezawi learnt several things, but her favourite was sailing.
“They taught us many activities and they taught us how to work in a group, to build our own busi-ness and motivated us, but my favourite part was sailing and we really enjoyed that, because I feel that unless you don’t do what you learn in theory, you can’t really understand it.”
Al Shezawi’s concluded by say-ing, “I want all women in Oman to do this programme, it is some-thing which will let you discover yourself and explore your inner self and believe in yourself, after all these are the factors that will help you achieve success.”
After participating
in a female
entrepreneurship
programme
conducted by SAP
Mena and Oman
Sail Al Shezawi is a
changed person
I remember before I joined this programme, all I ever did was to sleep, eat and wait for a job, however ever since I took part in the programme, it helped me believe in myself and improve myself
Halima Al ShezawiSAP Mena and Oman Sail female entrepreneurship programme participant
Global colours in Muscat eventDEEBA [email protected]
MUSCAT: AIESEC in Oman recently held its popular Global Village, which is the largest cel-ebration of cultures from around the world, where AIESEC interns and members in Oman showcased their country’s unique cultures, including their food, dance, song, dress, language and music at the Muscat Grand Mall.
“The Global Village encourages social sustainability, world aware-ness, and cultural understanding. It revives the general concept of the world being a ‘global village’ and inspires people to understand and appreciate the uniqueness and differences of each other, which further contributes to peace,” said Omar Mohammed, organising Committee Vice President of pub-lic relations and marketing.
“It is my first time to learn about Estonia. I just saw a lot of pictures from Estonia and Kazakhstan. I never imagined they look like this,” said one visitor.
Marice from Estonia, who is also a member of AIESEC in Oman, said she was amazed to see the rich cultural diversity displayed by the interns. “People don’t know us very well and we don’t know them very well, so we are havingan exchange
here. This year, 12 or 13 interns took part from 10 different coun-tries. Visitors can get a glimpse of several international cultures at our global village, rather than having to go to the countries physi-cally,” said Marice.
The country with the highest number of participants was Paki-stan, having eight interns. “They had an amazing performance and dance, and their food was deli-cious, too. Apart from Pakistan, we have the Netherlands, Thailand, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Egypt, Es-tonia, along with Oman,India and Pakistan,” noted Omar.
Linda de Wit has been an intern with AIESEC Oman for five weeks and she said she was delighted at the curiosity visitors showed while learning about her culture. “I totally love the weather here, the people and the food. I and two other Dutch participants have a ta-ble here and we were representing our country with Dutch souvenirs and food.”
AIESEC is an international non-governmental not-for-profit organization that provides young people with leadership develop-ment and cross-cultural global in-ternships and volunteer exchange experiences, with a focus to em-power young people so they can make a positive impact on society.
A I E S E C G L O B A L V I L L A G E
WORLD IS A VILLAGE: The Global Village encourages social sus-
tainability, world awareness and cultural understanding. –Supplied photo
Workshop reviews policies,
rules regarding food products
Times News Service
MUSCAT: A training workshop on evidence-based legislative in-terventions to improve dietary intakes in Oman was organised by the Ministry of Health, repre-sented by the Nutrition Depart-ment, recently.
The workshop drew about 15 dieticians from different govern-ment institutions in the Sultanate.
The workshop, conducted by Dr Ayoub Al Jawaldeh, the World Health Organisation’s regional advisor on Nutrition in the East-ern Mediterranean Region, was aimed at reviewing the policies, rules, and standards that regulate the intake of salt, sugar, saturated
and unsaturated fats in the high-consumption food in the Sultan-ate, such as beard, cheese, soft drinks, and juices.
It further reviewed the cur-rent situation regarding scarcity
of micronutrients. In addition, it identified gaps in current legis-lative standards to recommend proper amendments to enhance future procedures for related pol-icies and to accelerate them.
D I E T A R Y I N T A K E S
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OMANS U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
However, I do not think that having a scheme
in place is a determining factor in encouraging
anyone to join a company or not
Tonia Gray, General manger at Competence HR
Muscat residents throng to ‘Grand Shopping Village’
BY STAFF REPORTER
MUSCAT: Grand Shopping Village proved to be a delight for Muscat residents as they thronged there in large numbers at the Al Bahja Hall in Qurum to grab attractive deals, which were on offer at the event.
Apart from being a great shop-ping experience, visitors also got the chance to engage in some en-tertaining activities at the venue.
The event, which was inaugu-rated by Her Highness Sayyida
Basma al Said, saw over 2000 peo-ple visiting the venue at different times of the day. Stalls selling a va-riety of dresses, jewellery, makeup products and several other unique items were the order of the day.
“We try to bring in entertain-ing activities for children and adults because there is a huge demand for them all the time, and people like being part of them. Alpha Events is really
happy to get such brilliant feed-back from visitors at the event, we promise to bring in more of these for Muscat’s people,” said Fahad Awais Munir, managing director of Alpha Events, the company which organised the Grand Shopping Village.
After the opening, the next big event was the art competition; where over 50 children took part and sketched their creative ideas
on paper. Parents were also hap-py to leave their tiny tots as they worked their way into the draw-ing and the parents grabbed the opportunity to take a look at the various stalls displaying a range of items.
“I was overwhelmed with the number of enquiries we received before the event, people were so excited to hear about it, and they wanted to collaborate with us in
different ways. Based on the direct feedback I got at the event, every-one had a great experience there and I think it was the art competi-tion which attracted interest from so many wonderful children, and their parents, we are happy that they took part.” said Masarrat Ja-han, manager of the event.
The evening hours saw a much bigger attendance and lots of stage activities. A raffle draw with many exciting prizes was also conduct-ed in the evening. Children were given an opportunity to come and showcase their talent on stage.
The special guests at the event were Saiyed Ali Sibtain Naqvi, Nazliea Ajam, Dr. Weam Dawud, Seeniya Biju and Mariyam al Araimi.
Event partners were Al Noor Medical Specialties Centre, Aster al Raffah Hospital, Sugar Apollo, Al Hashar Travels, Oman Food-stuff Factory, Al Bayan College, Pran foods, National Biscuit In-dustries, Sweets of Oman and In-daprastha restaurant.
“I have gone to other such events in Muscat before, but this brought together so many ele-ments to the same platform and we had fun, so the event catered to the whole family,” said Mirana, a visitor to the event.
Apart from being
a great shopping
experience, visitors
also got the chance
to engage in some
entertaining
activities at the Al
Bahja Hall in Qurum
HUGE DEMAND: The event, which was inaugurated by Her Highness Sayyida Basma al Said, saw
over 2000 people visiting the venue at different times of the day. — Supplied picture
Forum focuses on safety and security standards at industrial firms in OmanTimes News Service
MUSCAT: A seminar entitled, “Safety and Security Standards at Industrial Firms” was organised on Wednesday by the Public Es-tablishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE) in cooperation with Capi-tal Market Authority (CMA) un-der the auspices of Abdullah bin Salim Al Salmi, executive presi-dent of CMA.
The seminar underlined the importance of providing insur-ance coverage for industrial con-cerns and small and medium enterprises, which require the provision of appropriate security and safety standards due to the risks involved, further to estab-lishing the concepts of occupa-tional safety for the employees of such enterprises.
Speaking at the event, Musal-lam bin Mohammed Al Shehri, assistant chief executive officer, Operations, PEIE, stressed that the seminar aims to bring togeth-er specialists and those interested in the field of security and safety to unite efforts made in both the public and private sectors.
The seminar also aspires to highlight the significance of secu-rity and safety standards in indus-trial units and existing projects. “We also aim to examine the avail-ability of these standards and the commitment and requirements adopted in this area. The event also stresses on the necessity of
have insurance coverage for these firms and projects, so they are compatible with a variety of risks, in addition to spreading preven-tive awareness and instilling the concept of occupational safety among employees in the indus-trial sector,” he pointed out.
Al Shehri added: “The field of safety and security is a key one for the prevention of accidents or minimisation of their occur-rence in addition to the protec-tion of lives and properties. This requires the development of plans, programmes and neces-sary requirements to achieve the desired objectives. The seminar seeks to disseminate awareness among those in charge of indus-trial firms about the measures and requirements of safety and secu-rity and identify potential risks in the work environment. The event also emphasises the importance of protecting industrial firms be-
ing a vital source for the national economy, in addition to providing a safe work environment, the need to comply with prevention guide-lines, and how to cope in the event of any incident and reduce their occurrence probability.”
“PEIE works constantly in vari-ous industrial estates to spread prevention awareness, consider-ing the priority of protecting lives, properties and projects through a variety of seminars and lectures organised by PEIE in coopera-tion with the concerned bodies, including the Public Authority for Civil Defence and Ambulance. Theoretical and practical training is being undertaken to deepen the concept of industrial safety. With regards to the insurance aspect, PEIE, in cooperation with CMA (being the legislative, regulatory and supervisory body for the capi-tal market and insurance sectors in Oman) had invited insurance
companies due to the importance of enhancing an effective partner-ship between these companies and the industrial firms in safety and security aspects, and the pro-cedures for insurance coverage,” Al Shehri stated.
A number of papers were deliv-ered during the event by public, private and civil society institu-tions highlighting a variety of top-ics, including the concept of safety and security in industrial firms; the importance of safety and se-curity requirements; industrial fire and prevention measures; re-quirements of reinsurance com-panies; safety of lives and public and private properties; how to face natural disasters; protection of economic wealth, including fac-tories and utilities; practices that help prevent an outbreak of fire; evaluation of risks and their types in terms of chemical and physical hazards; among other topics.
P E I E I N I T I A T I V E
EXPERT PANEL: Seminar aimed to bring together specialists and those interested in the field of
security and safety to unite efforts made in both the public and private sectors. - Supplied picture
Passenger traffic rises
Al Hosni added that plans are also afoot to develop real estate pro-jects using vacant land close to the airport. “Today, airports are like shopping malls. We would like to build a whole city around the air-port,” he said, adding; “Our aim is to achieve profitable growth.”
Highlighting the growth in passenger traffic, Al Hosni said Muscat International Airport has achieved an 18 per cent growth in passenger traffic at 10.3 million passengers, while Salalah airport has achieved a 22 per cent growth in number of passengers at 1.02 million last year.
The state-owned Oman Air-ports Management Company op-erates and manages five airports – Muscat International Airport, Salalah Airport, Sohar Airport, Khasab Airport and Duqm Airport. Ras Al Hadd, another regional air-port, will be completed within two years. Duqm is really picking up due to growing business activities, he noted. Muscat airport aims to be in the league of 20 top airports in the world in terms of passenger numbers and service.
M U S C A T I N T E R N A T I O N A L A I R P O R T
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‘Imposing a clear rule for private sector quite hard’
Employees have the freedom to accept it or look for better offers from other companies.
“The government only inter-fered in the minimum wages for Omani in the private sector only to push citizens to join the pri-vate sector,” noted Al Saadi.
He explained that while it is always better to set a clear sal-ary structure for private sector employees, but imposing a clear rule is quite hard. “The minis-try come across several cases involving salary structure and the ministry always tries to ne-gotiate with the companies and employees to settle the issue in-dividually,” Al Saadi pointed out.
Ahmed Mohammed Hamdan, a graduate with a few years of work experience, said that lack of salary structure scale in the private sector is disappointing for jobseekers. “When I joined a reputed company in Muscat, I felt that the salary provided by them was not equivalent to my
qualifications and skills. A ma-jority of staff in the office had the same opinion. And there were a lot of noises in the office among the workers. If the labour law includes or chalks out a clear strategy for well defined salary structures in the private sector, then it would be a boon for the job aspirants and employees in private sector,” Ahmed said.
Aadil Al Saadi, a Sloan fellow-ship holder in Leadership and Strategy from the London Busi-ness School, said regulations, compensation, compliance and performance monitoring, and appraisal should be streamlined to be employee-employer centric instead of being conflicting red-tape centric one.
“From my personal experi-ence and struggle working in the private sector for six years before moving to the government sec-tor, the salaries are not the deter-mining factors that discourage Omanis. Instead, it is the poor
pension schema, the mounting red-tape associated with PASI compensation procedures and most importantly the incongru-ence between Ministry of Man-power employment policies, and the oversight of compliance to an outdated labour law that needs to be revamped,” Aadil added.
Meanwhile, Tonia Gray, gen-eral manger at Competence HR, said that there are now many companies in the private sector that have a grading/salary struc-ture scheme in place and obvi-ously it is good HR practice to implement such a scheme.
“However, I do not think that having a scheme in place is a de-termining factor in encouraging anyone to join a company or not. I have never had anyone in Oman ask me whether a company has a grading structure during any re-cruitment process except in gov-ernment sectors, where the can-didates will ask what the grade of the job is,” Tonia said.
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Delegation to visit TurkeyMUSCAT: Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) will dispatch a business delegation to the Republic of Turkey on April 12. The delegation will visit the four-day exhibition specialised in confectionary, ice-cream, bakeries and their related equipment and technologies.
The OCCI delegation will be led by Saif bin Said Al Badi, Dep-uty Chairman of OCCI Branch in A’Dhahirah, Head of Tourism Committee said that the OCCI participation in the exhibition in Turkey comes as part of the OCCI initiatives titled “Join Us to Rise,” with the aim of develop-ing SMEs projects.
Upgrading SMEs levelIn a statement to ONA, Al Badi added that the OCCI major prior-ities represented in upgrading the SMEs level and supporting them. He affirmed the OCCI keenness to encourage those wishing to join the personal business and providing them with means to limit difficulties.
He pointed out that the OCCI visit to such exhibitions comes to enhance ambitions of small enter-prises in terms of viewing experi-ences of the advanced countries in all areas for the benefit of the indi-vidual and community. — ONA
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OMANS U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
210,272 is the number of active insured persons
working for the private sector in the
Sultanate
Coveted French award for Omani lecturer
Times News Service
MUSCAT: Hassan Mohamed Al Ramdhani, a lecturer of French at the Oman Tourism College (OTC), has won the French Or-der of Academic Palms, awarded by the French Prime Minister to those, who provide significant academic contributions to the French Language.
Al Ramdhani, the first Omani to win this order, was recently hon-oured during a celebration held at the French Embassy in Muscat for this purpose.
In this regard, Al Ramdhani said: “The nomination for winning the order is made by the French Em-
bassy that chooses a prominent person for his contributions to the French language. The Embassy submits a report to the concerned entities in Paris. After the report is being reviewed, a shortlist of can-didates nominated for winning the French Order of Academic Palms is prepared.
“Finally, the winner receives the coveted award during a recog-nition ceremony. This year, I was caught by surprise when I was no-tified that I have been chosen to be the first Omani to be conferred the Honorary Officer of the Order that is granted by the French Prime
Minister, along with an official cer-tificate signed by him.”
“The evaluation process for the would be winner of the order is made on the basis of his contribu-tions to the French Language, his awareness about French culture, and his assistance in conveying it. This recognition is well known and has been applicable since 1808 during the reign of Napoleon Bon-aparte when university professors of the French empire were hon-oured. The Order was amended to appear in its current form in 1955 during the rule of the then French president René Coty,” he added.
“This Order and recognition place a great responsibility on my shoulders on the academic level, and I am proud of it as an Omani and GCC (Gulf Cooperation Coun-cil) countries national. It is an achievement that goes to the credit of the Sultanate and Oman Tour-ism College, particularly in light of the fact that such an order is the top of its kind in the academic field,” Al Ramdhani stated.
It is worth noting that OTC has two sections that teach the French and German languages. The col-lege pays great attention to making students specialise in French or German, along with the English. In this context, a student is trained to communicate with tourists, so that he or she is able to provide them with all the information in French, and reply to their inquir-ies. In addition, all that is related to tourism is taught in French.
Al Ramdhani began his path with learning French at the beginning of the 19th century as a language student. He has made many trips to France to study French there. Furthermore, he has taken many courses in French. Al Ramdhani was also appointed as a French teacher and an Arabic teacher for non-native speakers at the French Embassy in Muscat.
Hassan Mohamed
Al Ramdhani has
become the first
Omani to win the
French Order of
Academic PalmsHONOUR: This recognition is well known and has been applicable
since 1808 during the reign of Napoleon Bonaparte when univer-
sity professors of the French empire were honoured.. – Supplied photo
More than 15,000 establishments insured: PASIMUSCAT: Active establish-ments covered by social insur-ance system stood at 15,791 and the number of active in-sured workers in the private sector (inside the Sultanate) stood at 210,272, according to the latest statistics issued by the Public Authority for Social Insurance (PASI).
The total number of registra-tion cases as of the end of Febru-ary 2016 stood at 11,195 mostly of the age category 26-30 years - or 24.6 per cent of the total number of active insured personnel. The average salary for active insured workers is OMR645.
The number of those whose service was ended due to ter-mination, resignation, transfer to other sponsor, death, dis-ability or other reasons stood at 10,268 as of the end of end of February 2016.
The number of active insured workers at the insurance system on Omanis working abroad and their equivalent stood at 38.
The number of active insured workers at the insurance pro-tection extension system for the GCC stood at 1,591 as of the end of May 2015.
This reflects the awareness of the Omani worker to the im-portance of the pension systems and contribution to the social in-surance system, which provides him and his family with the feel-ing of security and assurance about the future.
The number of Omanis hav-ing their own business and their equivalent, who are registered with the system, has grown to hit 7,410; thanks to the growth of entrepreneurship trend among youths. — ONA
D A T A
The number of Omanis
having their own
business and their
equivalent, registered
with the system, has
grown to hit a high
figure of 7,410
Industrial growth policies discussed
MUSCAT: A number of compre-hensive industrial studies in or-der to conceptualise industrial policies appropriate to further push industrial development in the Sultanate, have been con-ducted by the Ministry of Com-merce and Industry, the Ministry has said.
Top among these were the study of the United Nations In-dustrial Development Organiza-
tion (UNIDO) entitled Indus-trial Policy for the Post-oil Age, and the study of the industrial strategy by Irish Development Authority (IDA).
The studies came up with a set of policies to achieve the objec-tives of industrial development to conform to the orientations of the Omani Economy Vision 2040.
These studies have been col-lected in a standard document
that was discussed through an expanded committee involving fourteen ministries and inter-ested parties in order to draw a long-term future industrial strat-egy to the Sultanate’s industrial development.
These discussions created a Future Industrial Strategy of the Sultanate, which was approved by the Council of Ministers and put into effect. -ONA
E C O N O M Y
Oman to host dental forumTimes News Service
MUSCAT: Oman, represented by the Ministry of Health, in collaboration with the Oman Dental Society, the Medical Ser-vices of the Armed Forces and the Oman Royal Police (ROP), will host the 18th Omani Inter-national Dental Conference on Thursday week, based on the theme “Towards shaping the future of the Dental Profession.”
The conference will be held under the auspices of Dr. Ahmed Mohammed Al Saidi, Minister of Health at the Grand Hayyat Hotel.
Fifty-four speakers from 16 countries will be presenting at this two-day conference.
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Rolling Stones herald changing times in Cuba with debut concert
HAVANA: The Rolling Stones rocked a massive crowd at a free, outdoor concert in Havana on Fri-day, capping a week of engagement with the West for the Communist-led country that once censored the veteran British band’s music.
The Stones started their first-ever show in Cuba with Jumpin’ Jack Flash, a song recorded in 1968, when Cuban rock fans were secretly sharing pirated vinyl re-cords and risked being sent to rural work brigades to cure “ideo-logical deviation.”
“We know that years back it was hard to hear our music in Cuba, but here we are playing. I also think the times are changing,” lead singer Mick Jagger said in Spanish to a roar from the crowd.
The singer spoke in Spanish throughout of the 18-song show of hits that lasted more than two hours.
Yellow moonThe band played Sympathy for the Devil as a yellow moon rose through clouds, and they fin-ished a two-song encore with “Satisfaction.”
Fans started gathering 18 hours ahead of time at Havana’s Sports City football and baseball fields, including Cubans who travelled from across the Caribbean’s larg-est island and foreigners who flew in for the occasion.
While no official estimate was immediately available for the crowd size, Cuban state media es-timated half a million people could
fit in the venue, which was nearly full. The audience ranged from teenagers to pensioners and re-served some of the biggest cheers for Jagger’s snakey dance moves.
“I love Mick Jagger so much. I’ve always dreamed about this.
I couldn’t sleep knowing he would be here,” said Angela Me-nendez, who cleans floors in a
hospital. Security was low key and there was a noticeable absence of would-be entrepreneurs selling T-shirts or memorabilia.
People were dressed in all
manner of jeans, T-shirts and boots with the Stones’ tongue and lips logo.
Cubans have taken to colour-ing the tongue with the stars and
stripes of the US flag, whether in the mistaken belief that the British rock stars were American or in the spirit of this week’s historic visit by US President Barack Obama.
The Stones formed in London in 1962, three years after Fidel Cas-tro’s bearded rebels toppled a pro-American government.
Counterculture bandsCastro’s revolutionary govern-ment came to see counterculture bands like the Stones and the Bea-tles as dangerously subversive and prohibited their music on TV and radio.
Half a century later, both the Rolling Stones and Cuba’s leader-ship share a longevity, perform-ing well beyond what most people would consider retirement age.
The band’s advancing years did not stop the youngsters in the audience enjoying the show, however. “Don’t let anybody tell you different, this is the best con-cert in the history of Cuba,” said Cristian, 18, a reggaeton fan who this month saw electronic music act Major Lazer in another free gig.
For Juan Carlos Leon, 57, the event was more than special.
“To me, this is a consecration,” Leon said.”I’ve waited my whole life for this. The Stones are the greatest.” — Reuters
Show started with
‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’,
a song recorded in
1968, when Cuban
rock fans were
secretly sharing
pirated vinyl records
and risked being sent
to rural work brigades
to cure ‘ideological
deviation’
REVOLUTION OF SORTS: Fans wait for the free outdoor concert by the Rolling Stones at Ciudad Deportiva de la Habana sports complex in Havana, Cuba on Friday. — Reuters
ICONS: The Rolling Stones perform during a free outdoor concert at the Ciudad Deportiva de la Habana sports complex in Havana, Cuba
on Friday. — Reuters
WAITING FOR A LIFE TIME: An elderly couple stands among fans
before a free concert by the Rolling Stones at the Ciudad Deportiva
de la Habana sports complex in Havana, Cuba on Friday. — Reuters
DIE-HARD FAN: A fan gestures while standing on a pole before a
free outdoor concert by the Rolling Stones at the Ciudad Deportiva
de la Habana sports complex in Havana, Cuba on Friday. — Reuters
We know that years back it was hard to hear our music in Cuba, but here we are playing.I also think the times are changing
Mick JaggerLead singer of Rolling Stones
HAVE YOUR SAY Send us your comments at facebook.com/timesofoman blog.timesofoman.com [email protected]
To me, this is a consecration. I’ve waited
my whole life for this. The Stones are the
greatest, said Juan Carlos Leon
A9
INDIAS U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
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Keralite nurse, toddler killed in Libya bomb blast: FamilyKOCHI: A Keralite nurse work-ing in Libya and her one-and-half-year-old son have been killed in a bomb blast in the ongoing civ-il strife in that country, her family said on Saturday.
Sunu Sathyan and the tod-dler were sleeping in their house when it was rocked by an explo-sion, killing them on Friday, her father Sathyan Nair, hailing from Kondadu in Kottayam district in south Indian state of Kerala, said.
The victim was working as a nurse in Zawia Medical centre AZ Zawiya, Libya. Her husband Vi-pin Kumar, who is a male nurse in Libya, was away on duty.
Nair has sought government help to bring back the bodies.
“Yesterday I got information through phone that my daughter and her one-and-a-half-year-old baby died in a bomb blast at her residence while they were sleep-ing,” he said in his letter to the government. He said he got only this much information from her fellow employees and relatives.
External Affairs Minister Su-shma Swaraj said she has sought details from Indian embassy in the violence-hit country.
“I have asked for a report reg (regarding) the death of an In-dian nurse and her child from our Ambassador in Libya,” Swaraj tweeted.
Nair, in his letter through Kadu-thuruthy MLA Mons Joseph, sought help to bring back the bod-ies of his daughter and grandson. “I came to know that the blast occurred due to regular fights be-tween the rival groups in Libya. So I humbly request your good self to make available the detailed in-formation about the incident and help us bring back the dead body of my beloved daughter and her son, whom we have never seen.”
“I also request you to extend all help and protection to her hus-band, who is in a state of shock after the blast,” Nair said.
Meanwhile, state Home Min-ister Ramesh Chennithala said eight to nine people are stranded in Libya and efforts are on to bring them back.
“Kerala government is alert on this issue. We are in touch with the External Affairs Min-istry and the Embassy in Libya. We are trying to evacuate all the people who are stranded there,” Chennithala said. - PTI
S T R I F E - T O R N
The victim was
working as a nurse in
Zawia Medical centre
AZ Zawiya, Libya.
Her husband who is a
male nurse in Libya,
was away on duty
‘Government’s big push to create entrepreneurs from SC/ST’
NEW DELHI: Asking party workers to reach out to Sched-uled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and women, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said govern-ment will soon launch ‘Stand Up India’ scheme to provide loans of up to Rs10 million to help mem-bers of these communities become big entrepreneurs.
“In the next few days under Stand Up India scheme, every bank branch will provide loans of up to Rs10 million to one SC/ST and one woman, to enable them to set up big industries and turn into big entrepreneurs,” he said addressing partymen at the execu-tive committee meeting of BJP’s Delhi unit.
Reaching outHe said though BJP lost Assembly election in Delhi, the party should try and strengthen its base by reaching out more to different sec-tions like SCs/STs and women due to the disillusionment caused by both Congress and AAP.
“There is need to reach out more to SCs/STs and women and take
the schemes of the government forward. Mudra Bank is benefit-ing lakhs and crores of minorities, SCs/STs and women and there is need for you to reach out to them and strengthen your base among them,” he said, asking BJP’s Delhi unit to gain more political space by strengthening base among weaker sections.
Jaitley said it was their duty to bring together people who were benefited by various schemes launched by the NDA govern-ment, be it Mudra bank, Jan Dhan Yojna and other such social secu-rity measures.
“We lost election, but not our vigour. In Delhi, the ground is open as Congress has lost its vigour. It is
losing its political space,” he said, adding that there is disillusion-ment with AAP government too “as the politics of theatrics can be done only in limits”.
He said the Delhi unit has a re-sponsibility to carry forward the national debates on key issues like nationalism by forming a group of 30 to 40 people. The finance min-
ister said this will also help bring in new leaders and connect with various sections of society.
“Take the schemes of Narendra Modi government forward among the people in Delhi. Reach out to every section of society in Delhi.
“Your ability to throw up lead-ers, you have a natural forum and use it fully. There is no section in society which has less support for BJP. If there is less support base among minorities, try and increase it by reaching out more to them.
“Try and bring in new leaders from among the minorities. This will help bring in new leader-ship, in civic polls and assembly polls like we have many women,” he said.
Attacking the Aam Aadmi Par-ty government, he said, “When questions are raised, then only to say that we fought so many bat-tles but could not do any work. All sections start dissociating one after the other and it is difficult to regain their support. Congress is not in a position to gain and that is why that space is available to BJP in Delhi.” - PTI
P R O V I D E L O A N S
Mehbooba stakes claim to form government in J&K
JAMMU: Mehbooba Mufti on Saturday staked claim to power in Indian-administered-Kashmir after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) informed the governor that it was ready to support the PDP chief as the first woman chief minister of the state.
However, the date for the swearing-in ceremony has not been decided as yet because the two coalition partners are still discussing ministerial portfolios - a last-minute hitch in forming the state government - which leaders of the two parties said would be resolved soon.
“We have to discuss it with our coalition partners,” Mehbooba Mufti told reporters after she met
Governor N. N. Vohra along with Nirmal Singh, BJP’s nominee for the post of deputy chief minister.
Vocal opponentsSenior Peoples Democratic Party(PDP) leaders and party MPs Muzaffar Hussain Beigh and Tariq Hamid Karra accompanied Mehbooba to the governor’s resi-dence in Jammu in a sign that the party stood behind her decision to realign with the BJP after a nearly three-month-long break.
Karra and Beigh were vocal op-ponents of their party forming
a ruling coalition with the ideo-logically opposed BJP when Meh-booba’s father Mufti Mohammad Sayeed formed the government last year.
The alliance was on the brink of a collapse after Sayeed died in a Delhi hospital on January 7. A day later, Jammu and Kashmir came under Governor’s Rule when a be-reaved Mehbooba refused to take the oath as chief minister. She continued dragging her feet over the government formation and wanted the BJP-led central gov-ernment to redraw the terms of
alliance her father had authored.
RapprochementHowever, the BJP refused to give fresh concessions to Mehbooba and the rapprochement was reached only when she met Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi earlier this week. The two part-ners are now ready to govern the state again even as the portfolio issue still hung fire. Mehbooba, however, denied the issue was causing the delay in holding the swearing-in ceremony.
“Portfolios are not important.
That is something we can sit to-gether and sort out. It is a coali-tion government. The BJP’s port-folios are ours and ours portfolios are of the BJP,” she said, smilingly though.
Mehbooba heaped praises on Prime Minister Modi and said he has assured “all help to my gov-ernment”. “We will stick to the Agenda of Alliance formed be-tween Prime Minister Narendra Modi and late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed.”
She said her father’s vision of peace and development will be fulfilled with “a renewed vigour”.
Mehbooba presently represents south Kashmir’s Anantnag con-stituency in the Lok Sabha. To be the chief minister, she will have to get elected to either house of the state’s bicameral legislature and also resign her parliament seat.
The PDP at present has 27 elected members in the 87-mem-ber Kashmir assembly. The BJP has 25 and it also enjoys the sup-port of the Sajad Lone-led Peoples Conference’s two MLAs and an independent from Udhampur.
Drew flakIn Delhi, the PDP drew flak for aligning with the BJP. The Con-gress put a poser wanting to know what will be the new gov-ernment’s stance on parliament attack convict, Afzal Guru as the PDP believes that hanging the Kashmiri militant was a miscar-riage of justice.
“J&K deserves an elected gov-ernment and we welcome celebra-tion of democracy. But will (the) BJP tell what is the stance of PDP-BJP on Afzal Guru now,” Congress spokesman Randeep Surjewala asked in a tweet. - IANS
Senior PDP leaders
and party MPs
Muzaffar Hussain
Beigh and Tariq
Hamid Karra
accompanied
Mehbooba to the
governor’s residence
in Jammu in a sign
that the party stood
behind her decision
to realign with BJP
PARLEYS: Jammu and Kashmir Governor N.N. Vohra in a meeting with PDP President Mehbooba Mufti
in Jammu on Saturday. - PTI
NEW DELHI: India is making all efforts to secure the release of a priest from south Indian state of Kerala who was abducted by a terror group in Yemen last month, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said on Saturday.
The minister’s remarks came in the backdrop of reports claiming that the terror group planned to execute the priest. However, there is no report of any harm having come to him so far.
“Father Tom Uzhunnallil - an Indian national from Kerala was abducted by a terror group in Yem-en. We are making all efforts to se-cure his release,” Swaraj said.
Uzhunnalil had gone missing in Yemen after the IS group attacked a care home run by Mother Tere-sa’s Missionaries of Charity.
“Yemen is a conflict zone. We do not have Embassy there. But we will spare no efforts to rescue Fa-ther Tom Uzhunnalil,” Swaraj had tweeted earlier.
Gunmen had stormed the refuge for the elderly earlier this month and killed a Yemeni guard before tying up and shooting 15 other em-ployees. Four foreign nuns, includ-ing an Indian, working as nurses were among those killed. - PTI
W A R - T O R N
SPELLING OUT: Senior BJP leader and Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley addresses Delhi BJP’s
State Executive Meeting in Delhi on Saturday. - PTI
Father Tom Uzhunnallil
India trying to secure release of priest in Yemen: Sushma
Doctors urge PM for new pictorial warnings NEW DELHI: Nearly 653 doc-tors and office bearers of medi-cal societies across the country have urged Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi to implement the new set of pictorial warning on tobacco product packages from April 1, to save millions of lives.
Doctors, cutting across speci-alities, in a letter, requested the prime minister to step in to pre-vent “powerful tobacco lobby” from subverting the anti-tobac-co measures of the government.
The country is 136th in the qualitative ranking of the picto-rial warning on tobacco prod-ucts. Large pictorial warning on tobacco packets is the most cost effective strategy to prevent youngsters from initiating use and provokes current users to quit the habit. Tobacco not only affects those consuming it but also people around. - PTI
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Congress will not be cowed down by such tactics, conspiracies
and threats. Even today, the Uttarakhand government enjoys
majority. We will abide by constitutional directions and will
prove our majority on the floor of the House
Randeep Surjewala, Congress spokesperson
Uncertainty on ticket rate hikes to enter Agra monumentsAGRA: Uncertainty continues to baffle tour operators on the hiking of entrance ticket rates for various Mughal monuments in Agra.
The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) has so far not clari-fied whether the rates would be revised upwards from April 1, as announced earlier.
The new rates were announced last November but due to protests by travel and tour operators, in-cluding the Indian Association of Tour Operators, as also the local tourism industry, a decision was postponed till April 1 this year.
The present rate for domestic tourists at the Taj Mahal is Rs20 and this is proposed to be raised to Rs50.
Foreign tourists have to cur-rently shell out Rs750 and this will be raised to Rs1,250.
Rates for other monuments have also been upped.
However, the ASI has not yet an-nounced when the new rates will come into force.
According to the local ASI of-ficials, the decision has to be an-nounced by the culture ministry in New Delhi.
Sunil Gupta of Travel Bureau said the ASI should immediately clarify the issue and clear the mist.
“They do not have any clear policy. The rates have to be ration-alised, but the hike should be rea-sonable. We are already concerned at the falling number of foreign tourists. The ASI obviously wants to reduce the number of tourists from the conservation angle, while the tourism bodies want the num-ber of tourists to go up,” Rajiv Ti-wari, president of the Federation of
Travel Agents Association of India and senior industry leader, said.
“The minister concerned (Ma-hesh Sharma) heads both the tourism and culture departments. To increase the revenue we have given several suggestions. If the ASI hikes the ticket rates, the Agra Development Authority (ADA) too will increase its share and raise its ticket rates.
:Presently the ADA collects Rs500 and Rs250 goes to the ASI from the Rs750 ticket for foreign tourists,” he added.
ASI officials said there was no directive from the ministry so far, which means the present rate structure may continue.
The ASI has been chiefly con-cerned with somehow reducing the crowds at the Taj Mahal.
“The human pollution is creat-
ing problems and the increasing number has to be somehow ration-alised in line with the NEERI (Na-tional Environmental Engineering Research Institute) recommenda-tions,” Surendra Sharma, presi-dent of the Braj Mandal Heritage Conservation Society, said.
“One suggestion is to limit the visiting time to two hours per ticket. The other is a staggered system which means you pay more if you want to go close to the main structure of the monument. Those who see the Taj from a distance pay less, those who go closer pay more,” he added.
One thing is for sure: All stake-holders will be waiting with bated breath till at least March 31.
If there is no announcement by then it will mean the status quo will continue. - IANS
R E C O M M E N D A T I O N S
POLLUTION: In this photograph taken on December 4, 2010,
tourists visit the Taj Mahal in Agra. The Archaeological Survey of
India has been concerned with somehow reducing the crowds at
the Taj Mahal. - AFP file Photo
Rebels accuse Rawat of horse-trading; Congress denies chargeNEW DELHI/DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand’s rebel Congress MLAs on Saturday alleged that they were offered bribe by Chief Minister Harish Rawat for sup-port during the floor test in the As-sembly on March 28 and released a video of a “sting” operation pur-portedly showing the chief minis-ter, who called it “fake”.
Congress alleged that the “dirty tricks department” of BJP presi-dent Amit Shah is at work, while the saffron outfit demanded “im-mediate dismissal” of the Rawat government.
Releasing the alleged ‘sting vid-eo’ in Delhi, former Uttarakhand chief minister Vijay Bahuguna, who is leading the rebel MLAs, said, “The very content of that CD proves that you (Rawat) are using undue influence and bribe to at-tract the nine MLAs... He should resign on moral grounds.”
“The sting CD being shown on news channels is fake. The reputa-tion of the man behind it who is as-sociated with a private news chan-nel is not hidden from anyone. His antecedents must be probed,” Rawat said at a hurriedly-called press conference at his residence in Dehradun.
Even though he called the CD “false”, Rawat said if at all it indi-cates something, it is that the re-bel MLAs have aligned with BJP for money. In a statement, AICC’s chief spokesman Randeep Sur-jewala said, “Congress will not be cowed down by such tactics,
conspiracies and threats. Even to-day, the Uttarakhand government enjoys majority. We will abide by constitutional directions and will prove our majority on the floor of the House.”
Reacting to the ‘sting video’, BJP General Secretary Kailash
Vijayvargiya said Rawat has “no right to remain in power” even for a moment and said a party delegation will meet President Pranab Mukherjee to demand his intervention.
“We had told the Governor that the state government will indulge
in horse trading. We could not understand as to why he gave so many days to it to prove its ma-jority in the Assembly. Our fears have come true. It has been clearly exposed today that he Harish Ra-wat is busy buying over his own MLAs,” he said.
Bahuguna said the chief min-ister should order an inquiry into the sting operation, carried out by a private news channel.
The Rawat government does not have majority in assembly, he said, demanding that President’s rule be imposed in the state.
At the AICC briefing, Uttara-khand Congress president Kishore Upadhyay launched a scathing attack on Prime Minister Naren-dra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah, accusing them of hatching a conspiracy to destabilise the Utta-rakhand government which, he claimed, “enjoys majority”.
“It is all the job of the externed Amit Shah and his dirty tricks de-partment,” he said, alleging that after destabilising Arunachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand has come on the radar of the ruling party at the Centre.
He claimed that the Congress rebels and BJP were behind the
“conspiracy of the fake CD” af-ter they failed to get any relief from either the court or the Gov-ernor ahead of the crucial trust vote on Monday.
Upadhyay claimed he was in touch with six of the nine rebel MLAs but refused to divulge the names.
Asked whether the Congress is ready to “forgive and forget” if the rebels express willingness to return, he said, “In a family, if someone parts ways by resorting to some wrong steps, he could be taken back on merit.”
Singling out former Chief Minister Bahuguna and former CLP leader Harak Singh Rawat, he said that they have “back-stabbed the party which had giv-en them everything”.
He said the two leaders instead of defending the Congress and its government with all their might, are seeking to create trouble.
Chief Minister Rawat blamed Modi, Shah and the rebel MLAs for the political crisis in Uttara-khand and said it was an unholy alliance to destabilise a democrat-ically-elected government and de-rail the process of development in the state. - PTI
U T T A R A K H A N D P O L I T I C A L C R I S I S
BRIEFING: Chief Minister Harish Rawat addresses a press conference in Dehradun on Saturday. - PTI
I am not fighting Gogoi but poverty and corruption: PM
TINSUKIA: Wooing voters in northeastern state of Assam with a promise of “fast, all-round de-velopment”, Prime Minister Nar-endra Modi on Saturday said his fight was not against Chief Minis-ter Tarun Gogoi but against “pov-erty, corruption and destruction” of the state under Congress rule.
“I have three agendas. Devel-opment, fast development and all round development,” he said at an election rally here as he hit the campaign trail and claimed his government had allocated many times more funds for state’s in-frastructure than the previous governments.
The prime minister also took a swipe at 79-year-old Gogoi who had called the Assembly election as a direct fight between him and Modi, saying he can only pay his respects to the elderly leader.
Heaped praiseHe heaped praise on BJP’s chief ministerial candidate Sarbananda Sonowal, describing him as one of
his best ministers.The leader of Congress who will
turn 90 in a few years says his fight is with Modi. Respected chief minister, you are an elder and I am young. I pay my respects to you. In our culture, the young do not fight their elders and the elders give their blessings to them.
“My fight is not against Gogoi but against poverty, corruption and destruction of Assam. I am not fighting against any indi-vidual,” he said.
The prime minister said if So-nowal becomes the chief minister, it will be his government’s and his personal loss because Sonowal is one of his best ministers and “a bright, capable and simple person”.
“There is only one ‘anand’ ( joy) in Assam, it is Sarbananda,” he said. Modi, however, made no mention of the contentious issue of infiltration, a major poll plank of the BJP-led NDA, and chose to
stick to his development theme and lack of progress in Assam.
Congress misruleHe said the state was among the five most prosperous states after Independence but is among the five least developed states now and blamed successive Congress governments for this.
“You give me five years, you give Sarbananda five years and BJP and its allies will pull Assam out of its difficulty,” he said.
Trying to connect with the crowd, he touched on his early days as a tea-seller, saying he sold their tea to energise others and due to this he shares a special bond with the people of Assam, a large tea-producing state.
Modi appealed to Assam voters to give BJP and its allies five years to correct 60 years of Congress “misrule” in the state.
“Today after 60 years under
Congress rule, Assam has become the fifth poorest state in the coun-try. No development, youth are unemployed today, no electricity and drinking water. Who brought about this condition of Assam?”
“Every village should get elec-tricity for bringing in develop-ment, good education, to run mills and see TV. But even after 60 years of Independence even electricity poles have not reached 1000 vil-lages in Assam,” Modi said.
Noting that Assam has immense water resources, the mighty Brah-maputra and heavy rainfall, he said, “yet what can be more pain-ful than seeing people here do not have drinking water. The Congress government is responsible.”
“Money was given from Delhi for building houses for the poor here. But that money has not been spent and is lying unused in the bank. If this continues there will be no development in Assam. Gas
is produced in Assam. Do the poor get gas in their homes here? We have decided to provide 5 crore poor gas to replace their smoky cooking stoves”, he said.
Highlighting a number of devel-opmental schemes of the Centre, Modi projected his government as one “for the poor” as he spoke about the decision to allow small shops to remain open seven days a week. Modi said his government had electrified over 1000 of the 2000 Assam villages, where pow-er had not reached yet.
Citing a CAG report, he said the Gogoi government did not provide answers to its queries on wherea-bouts of money and asked people to give their answer on April 4 through EVM machines.
“Even a prime minister can in-augurate one, two or three project by pressing a button. You can start a new era of development by press-ing the EVM button. Your power is more than that of a prime minis-ter,” he told the rally. The state is going to the polls on April 4 and 11.
“I ask you to give (chief ministe-rial candidate) only five years to correct the misrule of Congress for 60 years. Vote for BJP and our alliance partners to usher in a new era of development for Assam”, the prime minister appealed.
“With you I want to bring de-velopment to Assam, provide job opportunities to the youth, elec-tricity to villages. We have given funds for development of Assam’s infrastructure, railway. To fulfil the dreams of the youth I ask for your blessings”, he said.
He claimed the state govern-ment had been able to spend only one-fourth of the funds provided to it by the Centre.
“Please mark my words. Chil-dren will be taught ‘A for Assam’ after this election.... Assam is go-ing to get a young chief minister after the polls,” he said, while urg-ing people to vote for BJP. -PTI
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi
said my fight is not
against Gogoi but
against poverty,
corruption and
destruction of
Assam. I am not
fighting against any
individual
ON CAMPAIGN TRAIL: Prime Minister Narendra Modi being felicitated by Asom Gana Parishad(AGP)
candidate for Bokakhat constituency Atul Bora as senior AGP leader Praful Kumar Mahanta looks on
during an election rally at Bokakhat in Golaghat district of Assam on Saturday. - PTI
Research shows cancer can be cured by Yoga, says Naik
PANAJI: Union Minister Shripad Naik on Saturday said research has proved that yoga can cure dis-eases like cancer and propagated the use of AYUSH as alternative medical practices.
“A Bengaluru-based institute has proved with research that diseases like cancer can be cured by yoga. They have proved it,” Naik said during the inaugura-tion of National Arogya fair in Goa on Saturday.
The minister, however, did not mention the name of the institute and appealed the people to prac-tice Ayurveda, Yoga and natur-opathy, Unani, Siddha and Home-opathy (AYUSH) as alternative medicines.
Goa Chief Minister Laxmikant Parsekar also made a similar claim during his speech while launching ‘Common Yoga Protocol’, a guide to the upcoming World Yoga Day on June 21.
“It is said that diseases like AIDS and cancer can be cured by Ayur-veda. We should conduct neces-sary research on this aspect so that India can revolutionise the health sector of the world,” Parsekar said.
Earlier in his speech, the Union minister said the proponents of AYUSH are not against allopathy.
“All the forms of medicines should have health of patient at its focus point,” Naik said.
He said there should be integra-tion of medicines so that ailments like cancer, high sugar, obesity and others are uprooted.
The minister also announced the proposed tie up with the US in the field of AYUSH to treat cancer.
“During the last one and half year, (the knowledge of ) AYUSH has travelled places including the US. We will soon be signing a memorandum of understand-ing (MoU) with America in the field of research on curing cancer by AYUSH medicinal practice,” Naik said. - PTI
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Pakistan, Iran plan to enhance trade to $5b
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Iran have planned to undertake scores of pragmatic steps under the five-year Strategic Trade Cooperation Plan in order to enhance annual trade to $5 billion.
The five-year plan will be signed by the Iranian minister for industry, mines and trade and Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir during the cur-rent visit of Iranian President Hasan Rouhani in the wake of lifting of international sanctions from Tehran.
The document of strategic co-operation states in view of de-cline in bilateral trade over the past several years, it needs to be raised to $5 billion annually in five years and to further higher levels subsequently.
ChallengesA large number of challenges have been identified that should be ad-dressed to achieve the trade ob-jective. The two countries will es-tablish a mechanism to cope with issues hampering bilateral trade such as non-tariff barriers, absence of a mutual recognition agreement,
lack of banking facilities, infra-structure bottlenecks and trade through informal channels.
In addition to strengthening the existing institutional arrange-ments, a separate mechanism on expert and technical levels will be put in place to deal with such is-sues and oversee implementation of the plan.
The two sides underline that for giving a fresh boost to bilat-eral trade and opening up com-merce and investment, they need to offer market access under formal agreements.
In this regard, in addition to the preferential trade agreement (PTA), which has been in force since September 2006 and is be-ing reviewed for better perfor-mance in line with the changed scenario after the lifting of sanc-tions, the two countries will enter into negotiations for a free trade
agreement including trade in goods, services and investments.
They agree to move forward at a fast pace to conclude FTA negoti-ations, effectively implement the PTA, establish appropriate mech-anisms for coordination in up-coming rounds of FTA talks and periodically monitor the progress.Prior to first meeting of the joint working group that has already been established, Pakistan will share a draft framework of the FTA with Iran by the end of April this year and Tehran will give its response by the end of May.
The framework agreement will deal with trade in goods, trade fa-cilitation, rules of origin and dis-pute settlement.
Negotiations will conclude in one and a half years from June 2016 to December 2017 unless the two sides agree on an extension.
They will also try to open two
more crossing points on the bor-der, preferably by the end of 2016, potentially at Gabd and Mand on the Pakistan side and Reemdan and Pishin on the Iranian side.
Five-year planThe Trade Development Author-ity of Pakistan and the Iranian Trade Promotion Organisation will jointly draw up a comprehen-sive programme of promotional activities including single-coun-try exhibitions, sharing of com-mercial intelligence and exchange of business delegations.
Under the five-year plan, the Pak-Iran Joint Business Council will be re-activated and a joint chamber of commerce and indus-try will be established.
They will consider exempting bona fide businesspersons from seeking visa for commercial visits. - Express Tribune
Document of strategic
cooperation states
in view of decline in
bilateral trade over
the past several
years, it needs to be
raised to $5 billion
annually in five years
and to further higher
levels subsequently
STRENGTHENING TIES: In this photograph released by Pakistan’s Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR) on Saturday, Pakistan army chief Raheel Sharif, left, talks with Iranian President Hassan Rou-hani during a meeting in Rawalpindi. Pakistan and Iran have agreed to enhance economic ties and open two more border crossings to increase trade, the government said. - AFP/ISPR
Response to Pak Sarzamin Party far more positive than expected: KamalHYDERABAD: Karachi’s former city nazim (mayor) and head of the newly formed Pak Sarzamin Party (PSP), Mustafa Kamal, has claimed that his April 24 rally in Karachi will remove all stigmas from the people of Karachi and Hy-derabad and no one will call them ‘Indian agents’ or enemies of the state now.
“April 24 will usher in a new era and will bury 30 years of Khura-faat futile things),” Kamal said on Friday in a reference to the poli-tics of Muttahida Quami Move-ment (MQM) which was launched around 30 years back.
Kamal, a former MQM leader who announced his breakaway fac-tion on March 2, was addressing a press conference in Hyderabad together with other PSP leaders — Anis Qaimkhani, Raza Haroon, Anis Ahmed and Waseem Aftab.
Decades of struggleHe said peoples’ response to his new party was far more positive than expected and that nobody would now be able to “sow a seed of discord among us on the basis
of language, ethnicity, sect and provincialism”.
In a reference to the MQM, he said nothing could be achieved even after decades of struggle and loss of 20,000 lives.
He said the MQM could not deny that its chief Altaf Hussain had paid millions of rupees to a con artist just to establish contact with ISI former chief.
He said Altaf was least con-cerned about the life of his work-ers and only needed dead bodies to continue his hegemony.
AmnestyHe said just like Balochistan where separatists fighting against state were offered amnesty, a political package should also be announced for the MQM workers.
Kamal asked as to why the MQM was silent over allegations levelled against it by Tariq Mir and Sarfraz Merchant.
“Tariq Mir has claimed that the MQM leaders in London had had four meetings with RAW officials.If this is untrue then why Altaf is silent,” he said. - Express Tribune
B R E A K A W A Y F A C T I O N
BRIEFING: Mustafa Kamal, head of the newly formed Pak Sarzamin Party addressing a press conference at Latifabad, in Hyderabad, on Friday. - Express Tribune
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Oman, UK remain very much alignedJeffrey Mountevans
As a shipbroker with an interest in naval his-tory, I was delighted to find out that my trip to Oman this week will be following in the
footsteps of the legendary British Admiral Horatio Nelson, who was said to have visited Muscat when he was a young midshipman in the eighteenth cen-tury. In fact, Britain’s relations with Oman go back further even than that. The first formal agreement between the two countries – a treaty that guaran-teed trading rights – was signed in 1646.
So an historic relationship, yes, but as Oman’s importance in the Gulf and global economic stage continues to grow, our interests in the twenty-first century remain very much aligned.
Against the backdrop of market volatility and falling oil prices, Oman’s government has set am-bitious targets to reduce its reliance on hydrocar-bons and invest in a more sustainable future – tar-gets enshrined in Vision 2020. It is an impressive plan to diversify the entire economy, increasing industrialisation and privatisation where appro-priate, and it is starting to produce tangible results already. The non-oil sector has produced strong and consistent growth in recent years, and projects such as Oman National Railway and the Batinah Expressway herald exciting times for your country.
Of course, managing the transition to a more diversified economy brings challenges, and when I meet many of Oman’s personalities and busi-ness leaders on this visit I will discuss how the UK might help to address these challenges. Infrastruc-ture is one way: just as financial services provide a lever for future growth, so investing money in transport, water and energy infrastructure also brings significant social and economic benefits.
The vast sums of money needed for such pro-jects cannot come from one source. Governments must find increasingly innovative ways to at-tract capital for infrastructure developments and thereby unlock economic growth. One option is to enter into partnerships with providers of capi-tal and construction companies, using tools like ‘public private partnerships’, or ‘PPP’. The UK has huge experience of funding, building and running large infrastructure projects using PPP and other models. I will discuss this expertise on my visit and explore ways for the UK to contribute to Oman’s grand infrastructure ambitions.
As Oman’s economy diversifies, so its financial
markets are expanding and Oman is developing into a strong regional financial centre, well on its way to becoming an international financial centre. This offers a further opportunity for partnership with London. We are unique as a financial centre, with deep expertise across many areas of financial services, including a growing range of Sharia-com-pliant financial products.
London is the European centre for Islamic Fi-nance with $19 billion of reported assets and this market is growing fast. More than 20 banks oper-ating in the UK now offer Islamic financial prod-ucts, along with 25 law firms that supply legal ser-vices relating to Islamic finance for the global and domestic markets. Greater cooperation between Omani and British firms can help us all engage with this expanding market and capitalise on the economic opportunities that financial innovations such as Sharia-compliant products can offer.
Finally, the Omani government’s diversifica-tion plans have focused on creating more em-ployment opportunities for the rising number of young Omanis entering the work force. There are already a number of training agreements between the Omani government and UK business services, but I hope in the future these will be expanded: an investment in education, training and qualifica-tions (ETQ) can help a country to build a highway from school to employment, which in turn creates an atmosphere in which internationally success-ful financial services firms can flourish. Invest-ment in ETQ is investment in a country’s youth, which is itself an investment in future prosperity. With a huge proportion of Oman’s population un-der 25 years of age, Oman has a golden opportu-nity to create a dynamic, flexible and innovative workforce which is the envy of the world. Our experience in other markets has shown that by partnering with some of the UK’s internation-ally-renowned providers of ETQ, countries like Oman give themselves the best possible chance of fulfilling this aspiration. I am delighted to be visiting Oman at this exciting time – I have many personal friends in Oman and know your country to be warm and hospitable. I hope that by the time my visit ends we will have strengthened what is already an extremely productive relationship and, perhaps, brought Vision 2020 a step closer. - Exclusive to Times of Oman
Jeffrey Mountevans is Lord Mayor of City of LondonWashington planning to interfere in European affairs This refers to the story, Ex-CIA chief says British EU exit would not impact UK security (March 25). The statement by the American security personality shows the divergent views of European govern-
ments and Washington. It seems to me, in the US officials are waiting to detach the ties bonding Britain to the Continent. Such an interference could lead to upheaval and tensions as Russia is expanding its reach over European society. This is possible as many in Europe seem to think, for London protection of American interests come be-fore those of its allies. Those who in Europe and Britain worry over the so-called Brexit need to understand this point. — Munir Yousufzai, Ruwi
South Africa bowlers maintain side’s ‘chokers’ nickname This refers to the story, West Indies tame South Africa to enter semifinals (March 25). The Caribbean side’s performance af-ter the dismissal of champion player Chris Gayle shows either the team’s maturity or
the Proteas continuing run as chokers. To me it seems the latter as needlessly the excellent bowling line up got nervous and allowed the ineffective West Indian side to achieve the target without much dif-ficulty. — Matt Foxton, Al Hail
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Water week celebrations in all regionsMUSCAT: Within the context of the Gulf Water Week which com-menced here on Thursday under the motto ‘Irrigation system efficien-cy protect water resources’, the Ministry of Water Resources and its regional departments implemented several activities which centred on the motto of the week. In the water departments in Seeb, Abdullah bin Saif Al Mahrooqi, the wali of Seeb, opened yesterday a water re-sources exhibition which included photographs of all water resources.
1802: The Treaty of Amiens is signed, ending the French Revo-lutionary War.
1884: The first long-distance telephone call is made from Boston to New York.
1933: 55,000 people stage a protest against Hitler in New York.
1976: Washington, D.C. opens its subway system.
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According to European officials, other migrants are travelling into the Nordic and Baltic states from Russia
and are not fleeing the fighting in Syria, Iraq or Afghanistan, but rather have been living in Russia and are being encouraged by the
Russian government to join the tide in Western Europe
JOSH ROGIN
Since the attacks in Paris last November, government of Francois
Hollande has placed his country under a state of emergency. France’s national guard has been deployed to protect sensitive religious sites and other ‘soft targets’. France is in 2016
the police state that critics warn Cruz or Trump would bring about
ELI LAKE
The rapid progress that is needed will require major reductions in
carbon dioxide emissions, achieved through increased investment in
the development and expansion of cleaner and more efficient energy.
At the same time, efforts to conserve and expand carbon “sinks” – that is,
the forests, wetlands, and sea grasses that absorb much of the CO2
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SourceNational Centre for Statistics & Information
NUMBER OF EXPAT WORKERSIN OMAN, BY EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY
Total
Male
Female
0
December2015
94,461
January2016
94,536
77,381 77,444
17,092 17,080
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Family in China ‘taken away’ over anti-Xi letter: Activist
NEW YORK: A New York-based Chinese Internet activist told Reuters on Friday that China’s authorities have detained three members of his family in connec-tion with an open letter calling for the resignation of President Xi Jinping.
In an interview in New York where he lives, Wen Yunchao said his parents and younger brother were “taken away” by the authori-
ties on Tuesday and have disap-peared, days after the government “harassed” his family to investi-gate his suspected involvement in distributing the letter.
Wen denied writing the on-line letter, which was signed by “a loyal Communist Party Mem-ber” and circulated widely at the
beginning of China’s parliament session this month.
Wen also said he did not help distribute the letter, and had only linked to it on his Twitter account after the letter had been published by a Chinese news website.
Reuters was unable to inde-pendently confirm Wen’s account
about the disappearance of his relatives or to determine if he had any broader involvement in pro-ducing or publicising the letter.
Calls to the Ministry of Public Security in Beijing seeking com-ment went unanswered.
“There is no reasonable excuse for them to take away my parents and my brother, no matter how you look at it,” Wen said, referring to authorities in China’s southern Guangdong province where his family lives.
“I’ve told them very clearly I’m not the author of the letter, I did not aid anyone in broadcasting the letter, and third, that I did not post the letter on any website,” he said.
Resignation of XiThe online letter had called for the immediate resignation of Xi and blamed him for “unprec-edented problems.”
The Chinese government has consistently and strongly denied any complicity in human rights abuses, but says those who break the law must be punished.
Wen said the authorities vis-ited his family after Liu Gang, a former student activist of Chi-na’s 1989 pro-democracy Tian-anmen Square protest, wrote in a
blog post that Wen had authored the letter.
Liu could not be reached for comment.
On Monday, the lawyer of a well-known Chinese columnist, Jia Jia, said police “took away” the columnist after he had warned former colleagues of the danger of re-publishing the letter.
ManhuntAmnesty International called for China to end its “manhunt” of those it thinks had something to do with the letter.
“The authorities should call off the political hounding of those suspected to be behind the open letter and release all those de-tained in connection with it,” William Nee, China researcher at Amnesty International, said in a statement on Friday.
Nee did not specifically name Wen or his family, but issued the statement soon after reports of the detentions.
Wen said his parents told him by phone earlier this month that the authorities promised to stop harassing them if Wen disclosed to the governmentwho wrote the letter and how it was published. — Reuters
In an interview in
New York where he
lives, Wen Yunchao
said his parents and
younger brother
were ‘taken away’ by
the authorities on
Tuesday and have
disappeared
ALLEGATIONS: An attendant serves tea to China’s President Xi
Jinping during a session of the National People’s Congress in
Beijing, China, in this March 9, 2016 file picture. A New York-based
Chinese Internet activist told Reuters on Friday that China’s au-
thorities have detained three members of his family in connection
with an open letter calling for the resignation of President Xi.— Reu-
ters/Kim Kyung-hoon/Files
Ten thousand rabbits shot in New Zealand Easter huntSYDNEY: Hunting for chocolate eggs is popular Easter event, but in New Zealand it was bunnies in the firing line at an annual rabbit-shooting event in one district where they are regarded as pests.
Ten thousand rabbits were shot by more than 300 hunters in 27 teams during the 24-hour “bunny hunt”, which began on Good Fri-day. Among the hunters were a few ferrets, according to organiser Eugene Ferreira.
Ferriera, 49, president of the Al-exandra Lions Club, said the event had been running annually for 25 years in the Central Otago district, and was organised after rabbits - an introduced species - developed immunity to poison. “It’s a big fun event — hunters are out and awake all night,” he said.
Ferreira said the rabbits were a “very, very big problem” for farm-ers because they cause erosion and eat crops, particularly carrots and cauliflower.
In previous years animal rights activists have protested against the hunt, but Ferriera said none came this year. However, Hans Kriek, executive director of ani-mal rights organisation SAFE, told Reuters his group was “dead op-posed” to the hunt. — Reuters
P E S T S
‘NO NUKES DAY’ A man wears a jumper with a radioactivity hazard symbol resembling the shape of
Edvard Munch’s painting ‘The Scream’ during No Nukes Day, a protest calling for a
nuclear-free future, in Yoyogi park in Tokyo, Japan, on Saturday. — Reuters
China, Indonesia to hold naval drills despite spatBEIJING: Chinese ships left the port of Qingdao on Saturday to take part in naval exercises off the coast of Indonesia, China’s Min-istry of Defence said, a week after a dispute between the two coun-tries over contested waters in the South China Sea.
In a notice posted on its web-site (www.mod.gov.cn), the min-istry said the Chinese navy flo-tilla will hold joint blue-water training and conduct disaster relief exercises with 16 nations, including Indonesia, the United States and Russia.
The exercises, run by the Indo-nesian navy, will begin at Padang and nearby islands on April 12. Last week, Indonesia attempted to detain a Chinese trawler it ac-cused of fishing in its exclusive
economic zone in the South Chi-na Sea, prompting the Chinese coastguard to intervene.
Simmering tensionsTensions have been rising in the South China Sea as China con-tinues to reclaim land and stake claims over vast swathes of an
important shipping corridor.Several Southeast Asian coun-
tries have overlapping claims in the area, including Vietnam.
The ministry said in a sepa-rate notice that Defence Minister Chang Wanquan was due to visit Vietnam on Saturday to partici-pate in high-level talks. — Reuters
S O U T H C H I N A S E A D I S P U T E
Last week, Indonesia attempted to detain a Chinese trawler it accused of fishing in its exclusive economic zone in the South China Sea, prompting the Chinese coastguard to intervene
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BOOK FAIR IN TUNISIA People look at books at the 32nd International Book Fair in Tunis, Tunisia, on Friday. — Reuters
Ban prods Iraq on national reconciliation to defeat IS
BAGHDAD: UN Secretary Gen-eral Ban Ki-Moon called on the Iraqi government on Saturday to step up efforts to foster reconcili-ation between the nation’s com-munities in order to combat IS.
“National reconciliation is an important part of the strategy to defeat Daesh (IS), who have ruth-lessly exploited divisions and tar-geted the marginalised and disen-franchised,” he told a joint news conference in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Haider Al Abadi.
World Bank President Jim Young Kim and president of the Islamic Development Bank (IDB) Ahmad Mohamed Ali joined Ban in the rare visit to Iraq’s capital and were expected to accompany him to the northern Kurdish city of Erbil later in the day.
The officials also met with For-eign Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari and later addressed a closed ses-sion of Iraq’s parliament.
Kim told lawmakers that Iraq needed to do more to empower local governments, encourage the private sector and reform the
state’s economic policies which are hamstrung by waste and cor-ruption.
“Inefficient state owned enter-prises that stifle private sector development need to be reformed, so a more vibrant entrepreneurial sector can emerge,” he said, ac-cording to a copy of the speech posted on parliament’s website.
Kim added that Iraq would “fea-ture prominently” in the bank’s plans to invest $20 billion in the region by 2021, without provid-
ing details. The World Bank lent Iraq around $2 billion last year for reconstruction, infrastructure, and emergency budget support to help it deal with the economic ef-fects of the fight against IS and the low price of oil, which accounts for around 90 per cent of govern-ment revenues. IDB’s Ali said the bank would contribute to the re-construction of areas destroyed in fighting between IS and US-backed Iraqi forces seeking to re-capture them. — Reuters
Militants
have targeted
marginalised and
exploited division,
said the UN
secretary-general
while visiting
Baghdad
NEED TO FOCUS: Iraqi Foreign Minister Ibrahim Al Jaafari, right, meets with visiting United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,
second left, and World Bank President Jim Yong Kim, left, at Baghdad International Airport, Iraq on Saturday. — Reuters
INSURGENCY: Iraqi security forces inspect aftermath of a suicide
bombing at a soccer field in Iskandariya, Iraq on Saturday. — Reuters
Syrian armed forces push into IS-held Palmyra cityBEIRUT: Syrian government forces advanced into Palmyra on several fronts on Saturday with support from air strikes and artil-lery bombardment, state media and a monitoring group said, and live television showed waves of ex-plosions inside the city.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights described it as the heaviest assault yet in a three-week campaign by the Syrian army and allied militia fighters to recapture the desert city from IS militants.
Observatory director Rami Ab-dulrahman said Syrian soldiers and allied militias had taken con-trol of one-third of Palmyra, main-ly in the west and north, including parts of its ancient Roman-era ru-ins. Soldiers were also fighting on a southern front, he said.
State-run television also said the army was advancing inside Palmyra, recapturing several neighbourhoods.
Television footage from the slopes of the medieval citadel, which was seized by the army on Friday and overlooks the city, showed tanks and armoured ve-hicles firing into Palmyra. Waves of explosions hit buildings, and smoke could be seen rising from many locations.
Car bombingsEarlier, the Observatory said that IS militants had launched coun-ter-attacks - including car bomb-ings - against advancing soldiers.
The recapture of Palmyra, which the extremist group seized in May 2015, would mark the biggest re-versal for IS in Syria since Russia’s
intervention turned the tide of the five-year conflict in President Bashar Al Assad’s favour.
The group, and Al Qaeda’s Syr-ian branch the Nusra Front, is ex-cluded from a month-long cessa-tion of hostilities agreement that has brought a lull in fighting be-tween the government and rebels battling Assad in western Syria.
The limited truce has allowed peace talks to resume in Geneva.
But progress has been slow, with the government and its oppo-nents disagreeing fundamentally on the terms of such a transition, including whether Assad must leave power.
Russia has reduced its military presence in Syria but has strongly supported the Palmyra offensive, carrying out dozens of air strikes this week and acknowledging that
a Russian special forces officer was killed in combat near the city.
Palmyra had a population of 50,000 according to a census more than 10 years ago. Those numbers were swelled hugely by an influx of people displaced by Syria’s con-flict, which has raged since 2011, but most fled when Is took over.
Deir Al Zor, RaqqaRecapturing the city would open up eastern Syria, where IS con-trols most of the Euphrates Val-ley provinces of Deir Al Zor and Raqqa, to the army.
“Our heroic forces are continu-ing to advance until we liberate every inch of this pure land,” a soldier told state-run television in a broadcast from slopes of the citadel, which overlooks the city’s monumental ruins. — Reuters
C O N F L I C T
DETERMINED: Forces loyal to Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad
flash victory signs and carry a Syrian national flag on the edge of
the historic city of Palmyra on Saturday. — Reuters/SANA/Handout via Reuters
Algerian forces kill3 militants near capitalALGIERS: Algeria security forces on Saturday killed three extrem-ist militants close to the town where police shot dead a would-be suicide bomber earlier in the week, the ministry of defence said in a statement.
The three were killed in a mili-tary ambush after an army sweep of the forests of Sid Ali Bounab in Tizi Ouzou, part of the moun-tainous region east of the capital Algiers, it said.
Algerian security forces on Wednesday shot dead a militant wearing a suicide bomb belt before he could detonate his explosives near the police station in a small town of Maatkas also near Tizi Ouzou. Violence is rarer now in Algeria since the country ended its 1990s war with extremists that killed 200,000 people.
But Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and small bands of fight-ers allied to IS have been active in remote parts. — Reuters
M I L I T A R Y A M B U S H
Egypt holds 4 over slain Italy studentCAIRO: Egyptian prosecutors ordered the detention of four rel-atives of the head of an alleged criminal gang which police said was found with belongings of murdered Italian student Gi-ulio Regeni, judicial sources said on Saturday.
The gang leader’s wife, brother, sister, and brother-in-law were held, accused of concealing a criminal and hiding stolen goods, the sources said. Police have said they found Regeni’s possessions at a house belonging to the sister.
A judicial source told Reuters that local prosecutors dealing with the gang case requested that senior prosecutors handling Regeni’s death add the question-ing of the four relatives to their case file.
On Thursday, Egypt’s interior ministry said the gang, whose four members were all killed in a police shootout, had Regeni’s bag and passport in their possession.
The group specialised in im-personating police and kidnap-ping foreigners, it said.
But the statements of the po-lice and the ministry have failed to satisfy Italian investigators,
politicians and Regeni’s family.Rome’s chief prosecutor, Gi-
useppe Pignatone, said on Friday that the investigation into Re-geni’s murder would continue.
The broken body of the 28-year-old Cambridge Univer-sity student, who was research-ing independent labour unions, was found at the side of a mo-torway on the outskirts of Cairo in February.
Torture marksHuman rights groups have said torture marks on Regeni’s body indicated he died at the hands of Egyptian security services, an allegation the government has strongly denied. The case has caused friction between Egypt and Italy, though it is unlikely to lead to a permanent rift because of the two countries’ economic ties and Egypt’s strategic role in Middle East. — Reuters
F A M I L Y O F G A N G L E A D E R
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Iran chopper crash kills 7ANKARA: An air ambulance heli-copter crashed on Friday in Iran’s central province of Fars, killing all seven people on board, state televi-sion reported.
The helicopter was taking a patient from a remote area to the city of Shiraz when it crashed. The patient, four medics and two crew were killed, the broadcaster said.
An official told state TV the cause of the crash was under in-vestigation. Iran’s official news agency IRNA said the area had ex-perienced stormy weather. — Reuters
A I R A M B U L A N C E
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Foreign diplomats presence at editors trial unnerves Tayyip
ISTANBUL: Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday harshly criticised foreign diplo-mats in Turkey for attending the trial of two prominent journalists charged with espionage, saying their behaviour was not in line with diplomatic protocol.
The first hearing of Can Dun-dar, editor-in-chief of Cumhuri-yet, and Erdem Gul, 49, head of the
newspaper’s Ankara bureau, took place on Friday in a courtroom packed with journalists, academ-ics, and half a dozen foreign diplo-mats, mainly European, in a case that drew international criticism.
The two journalists are accused of trying to topple the government with publication last May of a vid-eo purporting to show Turkey’s state intelligence agency helping
to ferry weapons into Syria by truck in 2014.
“The consul-generals in Is-tanbul attended the trial. Who are you? What business do you have there?
Diplomacy has a certain pro-priety and manners. This is not your country. This is Turkey,” he told a meeting of businessmen in Istanbul.
“You can move inside the Con-sulate building and within the boundaries of the Consulate. But elsewhere is subject to permis-sion,” he said.
Turkey’s pro-government pa-pers portrayed the attendance of foreign diplomats as an ‘invasion’ of the courtroom.
“Crusader unity in trucks betrayal,” the Star daily said
on its front page while Tur-kiye newspaper described it as ‘siege of consuls’.
Erdogan, who has cast Cum-huriyet’s coverage as part of an attempt to undermine Turkey’s global standing, has vowed Dun-dar will “pay a heavy price”. The two journalists could face life in prison if convicted.
On Friday, the court accepted the prosecutor’s request for Er-dogan to be one of the complain-ants and ruled the trial should be heard behind closed doors, deci-sions that drew anger from jour-nalists’ supporters.
Once-vibrant pressThe trial comes as Turkey deflects criticism from the European Un-ion and rights groups that say it is bridling a once-vibrant press.
EU enlargement chief Jo-hannes Hahn described the trial on his Twitter account as a “test case for press freedom and rule of law in Turkey”.
Dundar and Gul spent 92 days in jail, almost half of it in soli-tary confinement, before the constitutional court ruled last month that their pre-trial de-tention was unfounded since the charges stemmed from their journalist work. — Reuters
You (diplomats)
can move inside
the Consulate
building and within
the boundaries of
the Consulate. But
elsewhere is subject
to permission, said
Turkish President
Erdogan
The consul-generals in Istanbul
attended the trial. Who are you?
What business do you have
there? Diplomacy has a certain
propriety and manners. This is
not your country. This is Turkey
Tayyip ErdoganTurkish President
Benin’s new leader aims to reduce term of presidentCOTONOU: Newly-elected Be-nin president Patrice Talon plans to reduce presidential mandates to just one five-year term, he said late on Friday, after the constitu-tional court confirmed his elec-tion victory over prime minister Lionel Zinsou.
Talon took 65.4 per cent of the vote in last Sunday’s run-off poll to decide who would replace Presi-dent Thomas Boni Yayi, who is stepping down after serving two terms in office, the constitutional court said on Friday.
“I will first and foremost tackle constitutional reform,” Talon told reporters, reinforcing a promise made during campaigning. One term of five years would reduce presidential “complacency”, he said. Benin presidents can cur-rently serve two five-year terms.
The peaceful election was seen as reinforcing the democratic cre-dentials of Benin, a bastion of sta-bility in a region where elections are often marred by violence.
By relinquishing power after serving two terms in office, Boni Yayi stands in contrast to leaders in other African nations, including Burundi and Congo Republic, who have altered their constitutions to extend their rule. — Reuters
R E F O R M S
NO MORE PRINT EDITION The special wrap-around cover of final print edition of
‘Independent’ newspaper and ‘Independent Magazine’
is shown in London, on Saturday. The final print
edition of The Independent newspaper went on sale,
ending its 30-year appearance on British newsstands.
A poignant wrap-around front page carried the words
“STOP PRESS” in red lettering on a white background,
followed by the words ‘Read all about it in this, our
final print edition - 1986- 2016’. — AFP
Burundi rebels claim killing oftop army officerNAIROBI: A Burundi rebel group led by a former officer who launched an abortive coup claimed responsibility on Saturday for the killing of an army colonel this week in the capital, the group said on a Twitter account.
The claim by FOREBU, which wants to topple the government of President Pierre Nkurunziza, will add to international worries that Burundi’s year-long political crisis is sliding towards a full-blown conflict. More than 400 people have died so far.
Lieutenant Colonel Darius Ikur-akure was shot dead on Tuesday by an assassin dressed in a military uniform, the army said.
Soldiers gave similar accounts and also said he was killed inside the ministry compound in the capital Bujumbura.
“We promised the people to defend them. We are at work. We will not stop until the mission is accomplished,” FOREBU an-nounced on a Twitter account.
Journalists confirmed the ac-count had been used for other FOREBU statements.
“Those who took that oath are behind the operation against Lt Col D. Ikurakure. You’ll see them again soon. For, it is just the be-ginning,” it said.
It was not possible to get in-dependent comment from mem-bers of FOREBU, who has said it is led by Godefroid Niyombare, a former intelligence chief and sen-ior army officer behind an attempt-ed coup in May. The government
had said this week it had retrieved the weapon used in the assassina-tion and was pursuing the killer.
Burundi’s crisis was sparked by Nkurunziza’s bid for a third term in April last year, a move the opposition said violated the constitution and the terms of a peace deal that ended the na-tion’s 1993-2005 civil war that left 300,000 dead.
The government cited a court ruling saying the president could run again. Nkurunziza won a disputed election in July. — Reuters
P O L I T I C A L C R I S I S
The claim by FOREBU,
which wants to topple the
government of President
Pierre Nkurunziza, will add
to international worries
that Burundi’s year-long
political crisis is sliding
towards a full-blown
conflict
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Belgium charges three men with terrorism after Brussels bombs
BRUSSELS: Belgian prosecutors have charged three men with terrorist offences, including a suspect who local media said ap-peared on security footage with two suicide bombers at Brus-sels airport shortly before they
detonated their bombs.Prosecutors named the third
man as Faycal C while media iden-tified him as Faycal Cheffou, and said he was the man wearing a hat and a light-coloured jacket in last Tuesday’s airport picture that
showed three men pushing bag-gage trolleys bearing luggage.
Prosecutors said he had been charged with taking part in the ac-tivities of a terrorist group, and ac-tual and attempted terrorist mur-der. His home had been searched
though no weapons or explosives had been found.
Two other men, Aboubakar A. and Rabah N., were also charged with terrorist activities and mem-bership of a terrorist group.
Rabah N. was wanted in connec-tion with a related raid in France this week that authorities say foiled an apparent attack plot.
A total of 31 people were killed, including three attackers, and scores wounded in the Brussels attacks which were claimed by IS and, as well as the airport, includ-ed a bomb on a metro train in the city centre.
The attacks in Brussels, home to the headquarters of NATO and the European Union, took place four months after IS militants killed 130 people in Paris and sent shock-waves around Europe and across the world.
With increasing signs that the Brussels and Paris attacks were
carried out by members of the same network, police across Eu-rope arrested nine people in raids in Belgium and two in Germany before the weekend.
Three men were arrested in Brussels on Friday, including one suspect shot in the leg at a tram stop in the district of Schaerbeek.
He was subsequently identified as Abderamane A. and Belgian authorities said on Saturday they were holding him for a further 24 hours. Another person, Tawfik A., who was taken in for questioning on Friday, had been released.
Friday’s police operation was linked to the arrest in Paris the previous day of a person convicted in Belgium last year and suspected of plotting a new attack, Belgian prosecutors said.
Cheffou, whom media said was a freelance journalist, was identi-fied by a taxi driver who drove the attackers to the airport on March
22, Le Soir newspaper said.Earlier, police and government
sources said it was highly likely he was the third man seen at the air-port. Brussels mayor Yvan Mayeur told Le Soir that Cheffou had been detained a number of times at a park where he sought to encourage asylum seekers camped there to turn to radical extremism.
The self-styled freelance jour-nalist was “dangerous”, the mayor said, and he had been banned from visiting the park.
Police, speaking at a separate briefing in Brussels, said 24 vic-tims from nine different nationali-ties had been identified so far from the Brussels bombs.
Four people are unidentified.Two of the three Brussels sui-
cide bombers were brothers, one of whom died at the airport while the other took part in the attack on the metro train near Maelbeek station in Brussels. - Reuters
A total of 31 people
were killed, including
three attackers, and
scores wounded in
the Brussels attacks
which were claimed
by IS
BRIEFING: Belgium’s Vice-Prime Minister and Interior Minister Jan Jambon, left, and Brussels City mayor Yvan Mayeur, right, looks on during a press conference in Brussels on Saturday, regarding the attacks of March 22, 2016. - AFP/Belga/Nicolas Maeterlinck
British EU exit backed by 250 business leadersLONDON: The campaign for Britain to leave the EU has been backed by 250 business leaders including the former chief ex-ecutive of HSBC, the Vote Leave group said on Saturday, hoping to counter the view that UK busi-nesses back staying in the bloc.
The camps arguing for and against Britain staying in the European Union ahead of a ref-erendum on British membership on June 23 have both made the economic impact of a ‘Brexit’ a cornerstone of their campaigns.
Last month, the bosses at more than a third of Britain’s biggest companies including oil giants Shell and BP , and its largest tel-ecoms group BT said leaving the EU would put jobs and invest-ment at risk.
On Saturday, Vote Leave, one of the groups supporting a Brit-ish exit, unveiled its own list of backers including Michael Ge-oghegan, former Chief Executive of HSBC Group, John Caudwell, founder of Phones4U and Tim Martin, the boss of pubs group JD Wetherspoon.
“With our growing list of busi-ness supporters, Vote Leave will make that case that whilst the EU might be good for big multi-nationals, for smaller businesses it acts as a job destruction regula-tory machine,” Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of Vote Leave, said. Vote Leave also said it was forming a Business Council to
argue that EU membership was holding back business.
That group will be headed by John Longworth who quit as director general of the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) lobbying group after he spoke out in favour of leaving the EU, accusing Prime Minister David Cameron of trying to scare vot-ers into backing his case to stay in the bloc.
Meanwhile the Times news-paper reported that hedge funds were planning to use exit polls to make big profits on the day of the referendum.
Under electoral law, it is ille-gal to publish the results of such polls while people are still vot-ing but a private poll could allow traders to exploit moves in the currency market, with sterling expected to rise sharply against the dollar on the back of an “In” vote but decline if Britons vote for an exit.
Sterling fell to multi-year lows this week on a perceived rise in the chances of an EU exit, and on companies and fund investors hedging against it, though the currency later steadied.
“There is a lot of interest around Brexit, particularly from the big US funds,” one unnamed broker told the Times.
The odds of a Brexit narrowed on Tuesday as the Brussels bombings were seen boosting the ‘Out’ campaign. - Reuters
C A M P A I G N
One of Seattle zoo’s twin orangutans dies at 48SEATTLE : An orangutan that was one of the first set of twins known to be born in captivity died at the Seattle zoo this week at age 48, after living two decades longer than the median life expectancy for the Asian great ape, a zoo spokeswoman said on Friday.
Towan and his sister, Chinta, born at Seattle’s Woodland Park Zoo in 1968, were hybrid crosses between the two orangutan spe-cies indigenous to the islands of Sumatra and Borneo, spokes-woman Gigi Allianic said.
Interbreeding between Suma-tran and Bornean orangutans, the only great apes native to Asia, ended after zoologists estab-lished that specimens from each island belonged to distinct spe-cies, she said.
As a result of her brother’s death, Chinta is now the oldest hybrid in North America, Allianic
said. The median life expectancy of orangutans is 28, although some have lived to be as old as 59, the zoo said.
The highly intelligent, red-dish-brown apes tend to live longer in captivity because of the medical care they receive in zoos, Allianic said.
Orangutans, part of the same biological family as Africa’s goril-las, chimpanzees and bonobos, are endangered, primarily be-cause of poaching and the rapid destruction of the forest envi-ronments required for their sur-vival, according to the Orangutan Conservancy. The conservancy, which supports rehabilitation centres in Borneo and Sumatra and other initiatives, believes only 40,000 orangutans remain in the wild, down from as many as 60,000 a decade ago, it said on its website. - Reuters
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Licence to manage dry port in Sultanate to be awarded soon
A. E. [email protected]
MUSCAT: A licence to oper-ate the Sultanate’s first dry port, which is the centre piece of South Al Batinah Logistics Area, will be awarded either in April or May, said a top-level official of Oman Logistics Company.
The company has invited bids from prequalified firms to man-age the dry port, which is part of a world-class logistics city also known as Khazaen in the heart of the Sultanate.
Infrastructure tenderThe successful bidder will secure a licence for long-term lease and operation of an inland port facility that will form part of the landmark South Al Batinah Logistics Area development.
Making a presentation at the re-
cently concluded Oman Economic Forum, Eng. Ahmed bin Said Az-kawi, acting chief executive officer of the state-owned Oman Logistics Company, said that the company will float a tender for developing the infrastructure as well, which will include roads, for the first phase of the project spread over an area of three square kilometers. “The tenders will be floated either this month or early next month,” added Azkawi.
The first phase is currently under implementation and sev-eral investment opportunities are available for private sector on various fronts. “Several tenders for developing the whole project will be floated in the next few weeks,” added Azkawi.
The South Al Batinah Logistics Area will have a dry port, ware-houses of varying sizes, head of-fice, a logistics institute, a corpo-
rate office, hotels and mix-use real estate projects. Elaborating on the investment opportunities, he said that the government has adopted four different types of develop-ment models for building South Al Batinah Logistics Area.
“We have tenants who are in-terested in building specific areas, logistics service, utilities or hotels. We also have businesses in public-private partnership in the areas of real estate or logistics,” added Eng. Ahmed bin Said Azkawi.
BOOT modelOman Logistics Company has in-vited proposals from companies to express their interest in devel-oping projects in public-private partnership and the proposed projects for development include superstructure and hotels. “This opportunity is available for few more weeks. The response so far has been very positive.” This could be build-own-operate and transfer (BOOT) model.
Azkawi also noted that plans are
also afoot to invite private inves-tors to participate in design and build projects, which include hotels. “We are very flexible on certain extend.”
There are also plans to intro-duce a one-stop-shop for easy reg-istration, which will help foreign firms in starting business at the logistics centre.
The Royal Oman Police will pro-vide state-of-the security and sur-veillance services.
Planned in phases to develop an
area spanning 95 square kilome-tres, Khazaen will be an inspira-tion for those working in the fields of logistics, urban planning, infra-structure and real estate.
Fully integrated city“We are looking at each phase tak-ing about four to five years and the project execution will depend on the needs of investors and the re-quirement of facilities.” It will be a fully integrated city, which will contain all required facilities for investors to carry out business.
According to the official, the hub will support related infrastructure projects to turn the Sultanate into a logistics gateway to the wider Gulf and Middle East region.
The logistics centre is pro-posed to come up at the intersec-tion of the Barka-Nakhl Road and the Muscat-Batinah Expressway route. The South Batinah Logistics Area is not far from Muscat Inter-national Airport and two hours by road from Sohar port. It also has advantages due to its proximity to both the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
State-owned Oman Logistics has invited bids
from prequalified firms to manage Oman’s
first dry port, which is part of a logistics city
also known as Khazaen
Membership of OCCI to be linked to ‘Invest Easy’MUSCAT: Oman’s Ministry of Commerce and Industry con-firmed that membership certifi-cate of Oman Chamber of Com-merce and Industry (OCCI) will be merged with the commercial regis-ter through one-stop-shop ‘Invest Easy’ portal.
The OCCI will stop giving mem-bership certificates after three months from now and will be merged into the project to be includ-ed in the e-services package avail-able at ‘Invest Easy’ portal in order to facilitate the applications of in-vestors and entrepreneurs in Oman.
The merging of OCCI member-ship certificates and ‘Invest Easily’ portal comes as part of the efforts of the comprehensive develop-ment team to services of the por-tal to improve the availability of data through a comprehensive and integrated internet file for all the parties involved, simplify the reg-istration procedure, activate all ap-plications linked to those who hold a computerised identity card and streamline procedures for obtain-ing licenses in a manner through which publishing all requirements in a suitable way for investors.
The one-stop station ‘Invest Easy’ is the main gateway for com-mercial registration in the Sultan-ate and provide 55 high quality electronic services.
These services shorten the time and effort to accomplish 80 per cent of the services provided through the front desks at the ministry where the investors can complete their commercial applications anywhere and anytime without the need to visit the ministry. - ONA
P O R T A L
GCC inflation increases 1.5% in 2015MUSCAT: Inflation rate in Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states rose 1.5 per cent in 2015 compared to 2014, GCC Statistical Centre (GCC-Stat) said in its report.
This index represents the GCC region and excludes the group of housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels from the national indi-ces of the GCC countries.
The GCC-Stat pointed out that Kuwait witnessed the highest GCC inflation rate by 2.2 per cent in 2015 compared to 2014 whereas the Sultanate of Oman recorded a slight decrease by 0.1 per cent dur-ing the same period.
The GCC inflation stood at about 1.3 per cent in December 2015 compared to December 2014. The GCC inflation ranged between 0.3 per cent in the Sultanate of Oman and 2.7 per cent in Qatar.
As for the commodities group in December 2015 compared to De-cember 2014, the education group recorded the highest GCC infla-tion by 5 per cent whereas prices of transport, restaurants and ho-tels groups remained unchanged for the same period last year.
The GCC-Stat added that the GCC national inflation index ranged between 0.14 per cent in the Sultanate of Oman and 3.59 per cent in United Arab Emirates (UAE) in December 2015 compared to the corresponding period in 2014.
The UAE witnessed the highest inflation rate compared with other GCC states as it hit 3.59 per cent, followed by Kuwait by 3.03 per cent, Qatar by 2.7 per cent, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia by 2.3 per cent and Bahrain by 0.7 per cent while the Sultanate of Oman recorded a de-cline by 0.14 per cent. - ONA
E C O N O M Y
Sumail Industrial Estate to be ready by first quarter of 2017Times News Service
MUSCAT: Sumail Industrial Estate, which will be developed with an estimated capital ex-penditure of OMR39 million, will be completed in the first quarter of 2017. About 15 per cent of the basic infrastructure project work at the Sumail Industrial Estate in Al Dakhiliyah has been completed, said Eng. Nasser Al Mabsali, di-rector of Projects’ Department at Public Establishment for Indus-trial Estates (PEIE).
The project involves develop-ment of infrastructure facilities of the estate on an area of 753 hectares. The first phase involves an area of 548 hectares while the second phase involves an area of 205 hectares.
Al Mabsali said that the project also involves implementation of road works along 46.290km in the first phase and 10.21km in the second phase. “Moreover, the project comprises implementa-tion of water network on 47.96km in the first phase and 10.81km in the second phase, as well as ir-rigation network on a length of 47.96km in the first phase and 10.52km in the second phase.”
“Rainwater drainage network will be implemented as part of the project on a length of 36.16km in the first phase and 13.11 km in the second phase, in addition to sewage network of 41.9km length in the first phase and 10.38km in the second phase, and fibre-optic network in cooperation with Oman Broadband Company of 32.41km length in the first phase
and 8.82km in the second phase. Power cable works are also in-volved on a length of 50.6km in the first phase and 15.95km in the second phase,” he explained.
Wadi protection worksHe added that the project also includes implementation of wadi protection works on a length of 17km. “Besides, the project con-sists of establishment of water tank in the first phase with a ca-pacity of 2500 cubic metres of re-inforced concrete with a pumping station with a capacity of 48 li-tres/sec; water tank in the second phase with a capacity of 2500 cu-bic metres of reinforced concrete with a pumping station with a capacity of 35 litres/sec; irriga-tion tank in the first phase with a capacity of 2500 cubic metres of reinforced concrete with a pump-
ing station with a capacity of 41 litres/sec; and irrigation tank in the second phase with a capacity of 800 cubic meters of reinforced concrete with a pumping station with a capacity of 16.5 litres/sec. Additionally, other works are involved in the project includ-ing waste management, fenc-ing, planting, parking, 184 secu-rity cameras for both phases, two main gates and three emergency exits,” Al Mabsali added.
Initial expansionIt should be noted that during 2015, Sumail Industrial Estate got an initial expansion on an area of 358,682 square metres and was able to localise 42 manufacturing and service projects. The number of projects under construction and mapping stages are amount-ed to 34, while the number of pro-
jects in the pilot production phase and those set for production are amounted to 17.
Local projectsDuring the same year, the estate met more than 109 investors and urged the localised projects in the estate to commence their pro-jects promptly. The estate also contributed in organising and sponsoring five events as part of its social responsibility initia-tives for the wilayat’s population in particular and the governorate in general.
Sumail Industrial Estate seeks to create job opportunities for the nationals either through circular that are distributed on a regular basis or through meeting with the representatives of factories and get acquainted with their future plans in recruiting local people.
I N D U S T R I A L S E C T O R
PROJECT PLAN: The South Al Batinah Logistics Area will have a dry port, warehouses of varying sizes,
head office, a logistics institute, a corporate office, hotels and mix-use real estate projects. - File picture
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WORK IN PROGRESS: The project involves development of infrastructure facilities of the estate on
an area of 753 hectares. The first phase involves an area of 548 hectares while 205 hectares will
be developed in the second phase. - Supplied picture
B2
MARKETS U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
Sultanate’s trade surplus touches OMR2.2b despite fall in exports
MUSCAT: Oman’s foreign trade at the end of 2015 registered a sur-plus of OMR2.20 billion despite fall in exports by 34.7 per cent, primarily driven by decline in total value of oil and gas exports.
The value of chemical indus-tries topped the non-oil exports, according to initial statistics bul-letin issued by the National Cen-tre for Statistics and Information (NCSI). NCSI said that at the end of 2015, the value of non-oil ex-ports stood at OMR3,003.9 million compared to OMR4,125.5 million
in 2014, a decline by 27.2 per cent.
Commodity importsIt report said that the merchandise exports registered a decline by 34.7 per cent at OMR13,355.2 mil-lion at the end of 2015 compared to OMR20,463.4 million at the end of 2014. The bulletin said that the value of commodity imports at the end of 2015 stood at OMR11,153.3
million compared to OMR11,267.7 million in 2014; a decline by 1 per cent due to the slump in the value of oil and gas exports by 41.9 per cent at the end of 2015 to stand at OMR7,779.7 million compared to OMR13,393.9 million in 2014.
The total value of the Sultan-ate’s crude oil exports stood at OMR6,642.6 million while the re-fined oil export stood at OMR182.3
million and the liquefied natural gas exports stood at OMR954.8 million. The chemical industries topped the Sultanate’s non-oil ex-ports at the end of 2015 at OMR7.2 million, compared to OMR9.9 million in 2014, a decline by 26 per cent. The mineral products exports worth OMR572.8 million in 2015 compared to OMR1,256.5 million in 2014, a decline by 54.4 per cent
The value of rubber and elastics exports stood at OMR277.7 million, compared to OMR356.3 million in 2014, a decline by 22.1 per cent.
The value of mineral and mineral works exports stood at OMR650.5 million, compared to OMR765.8 million in 2014, a de-cline of 15.1 per cent. The value of the other non-oil exports stood at OMR802.8 million, compared to OMR801.1 million in 2014; a growth of 0.2 per cent.
The re-export activity de-clined by 12.7 per cent to stand at OMR2,571.6 million compared to OMR2,944.1 million at the end of 2014. The export of transport equipment declined by 14.4 per cent to hit OMR1,615.5 million compared to OMR1,886.5 million in 2014.
The re-export of mineral prod-ucts increased by 9.6 per cent to
hit OMR565.5 million, compared to OMR516.1 million in 2014. The value of other activities stood at OMR390.6 million, compared to OMR541.5 in 2014, a decline by 27.9 per cent.
As far as Sultanate’s imported commodities, the mineral products registered the biggest growth by 29.6 per cent at the end of 2015 to hit OMR1,682.7 million, compared to OMR1,297.9 million in 2014.
Transport equipmentMeanwhile, the value of transport equipment declined by 30.8 per cent to stand at OMR1.778 billion, compared to OMR2,568.4 million in 2014. The value of equipment, machinery and electrical equip-ment imports and their parts grew by 15.4 per cent to touch OMR2,240.7 million in 2015 com-pared to OM1,942.5 million at the end of 2014.
The value of minerals and their products imports stood at OMR1,256.6 million compared to OMR1,320.7 million in 2014; a decline by 4.9 per cent. The live animals and their products’ im-ports declined by 4.8 per cent to OMR450.1 million at the end of 2015. The value of chemical indus-tries imports declined by 3.8 per cent to hit OMR955.3 million.
The NCSI also said that UAE topped the list of trade partners for the Sultanate as the value of Oman non-oil exports to UAE at the end of 2015 stood at OMR626.2 mil-lion compared to OMR776 million in 2014; a decline by 19.3 per cent.
Saudi Arabia came second as the value of Saudi non-oil im-ports from the Sultanate stood at OMR375 million, followed by In-dia with OMR274.1 million, China with OMR215.6 million and the US with OMR180 million.
As for the re-export, UAE came first with OMR974.8 million, followed by Saudi Arabia with OMR313.3 million. China came third, after UAE and Saudi, with OMR295.6 million, followed by Iraq with OMR132.1 million and South Africa with OMR116.3 million. In terms of the top exporters to Oman in 2015, UAE came first with OMR4,271 million, followed by Japan with OMR663.3 million, In-dia with OMR625.5 million, China with OMR583.8 million and the US with OMR561.5 million. - ONA
Value of non-oil
exports stood
at OMR3,003.9
million compared to
OMR4,125.5 million in
2014, a 27.2 per cent
decline, said an NCSI
report
New website sets e-commerce abuzz in OmanTimes News Service
MUSCAT: A new e-commerce site that Oman can call its own is gaining tremendous traction with online customers just days after its launch.
Since its unveiling last week, maseeb.com has been some-thing of a rage with gadget geeks, gaming maniacs, lifestyle buffs and others from among rapidly Sultanate’s expanding online community. The big at-traction for online shoppers is not only the fascinating array of merchandise on offer, but also the unmatched discounts and deals, as well as the distinctive online experience and conveni-ence that await visitors to this hugely promising site.
Drawing traffic to maseeb.com is its amazing offers on a range of the latest models of smartphones, tablets, laptops, gaming accessories and other electronic gadgets along with massive discounts on branded perfumes. Hot-selling goods include the Samsung S7, smart watches and gaming merchan-dise. Given Oman’s craze for mobile phones and devices, it’s no wonder the website is gen-erating a lot of buzz within the online community.
Goods at doorstepAlongside its high standard of design, content and originality is the convenience that comes with shopping online via ma-seeb.com. Customers can place orders online using a simplified order format and receive their goods delivered at their doorstep within three days against cash payment. Online payment fa-cilities are envisioned in the next stage of the site’s development.
On the immediate horizon is a major ramp-up of maseeb.com’s offerings encompassing highly coveted sunglasses and
lifestyle products among oth-ers. Gold and silver jewellery will be added by the end of the month. Branded clothing and sportswear merchandise is in the pipeline as well.
Online shoppersAs with all well-established e-commerce sites around the world, maseeb.com is the brain-child of a young and savvy en-trepreneur eager to harness the appeal and popularity of e-commerce to offer great-er value to online shoppers. Twenty-two-year old Man-ish Raju Gangwani, the site’s founder, is a former student of the Indian School Muscat with a vision to position maseeb.com as Oman’s, and potentially the wider region’s platform of choice for e-commerce.
“Unlike other parts of the world, e-commerce is still a green-field opportunity here in Oman. I see the potential for maseeb.com to be a trendset-ter in online shopping, offering prices that are rock-bottom yet excellent value,” said Gangwani.
O N L I N E S H O P P I N G
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OMAN’S EXPORTS: The total value of the Sultanate’s crude oil
exports stood at OMR6,642.6 million while the refined oil export
stood at OMR182.3 million and the liquefied natural gas exports
stood at OMR954.8 million. - Times file picture
Drawing traffic to maseeb.com is its amazing offers on a range of the latest models of smartphones, tablets, laptops, gaming accessories and electronic gadgets
Money supply in Sultanate grows at 6.2%MUSCAT: Narrow money meas-ured on year-on-year basis grew by 6.2 per cent as at the end of January 2016 to OMR5.3 billion. This rise was a result of increase in currency with the public by 12.1 per cent coupled with increase in Omani rial designated demand de-posits by 4.3 per cent, according to the report released by the Central Bank of Oman (CBO).
Quasi-money (savings and time deposits in Omani rials, certifi-cates of deposit issued by commer-cial banks, margin deposits) and foreign currency denominated de-posits witnessed a growth of 10.2 per cent during the period.
Broad money supply M2 (that is, M1 plus quasi-money) stood at OMR15.2 billion at end of January 2016, up from OMR13.9 billion a year ago, registering an increase of 8.8 per cent during the period.
Interest rateIn respect to domestic interest rate structure of conventional banks, both deposit and lending rates softened during this period The weighted average inter-est rate on Omani rial deposits declined from 0.953 per cent in January 2015 to 0.948 per cent in January 2016 while the weighted average in Omani rials lending rate decreased from 5.062 per cent to 4.760 percent during the same period.
The overnight Omani rial do-mestic inter-bank lending rate firmed up to 0.271 per cent in January 2016 from 0.130 per cent a year ago. - ONA
J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 6
B3S U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
MARKET
Big Show 2016 commences on Monday
MUSCAT: An international ex-hibition of building materials, construction equipment, ceram-ics and bathroom fittings, wood machinery and interior design - ‘The Big Show 2016’ - will be-gin on Monday at Oman Interna-tional Exhibition Centre under the patronage of Dr Rasheed bin Al Safi Al Hraibi, chairman of the Tender Board.
300 participantsOrganised by Omanexpo, the four-day exhibition is a one-stop exhibition as more than 300 lo-cal and international companies will showcase the latest building, construction and interior design products, services and equipment in the Sultanate.
The oil prices slump was posi-tively reflected on the Omani real estate sector as it is a safe shelter for those escaping the fluctuation of money market prices. The real estate sector grew by 29.2 per cent by the end of 2015.
It is expected that the exhibi-tion will witness a large turnout exceeding the previous version, which stood at 14,000 visitors. It is the biggest gathering of archi-tects, consultants, contractors, engineers, importers, interior de-signers, property developers, real estate agents, retailers, suppliers, homeowners and many more.
Annual eventThe Big Show is an annual inter-national exhibition that caters to the building, construction and in-terior design industry in the Sul-tanate, the Middle East and global markets. The annual exhibition provides a platform for local and internation-al companies to take advantage of major opportunities in the indus-try, as well as to learn about the key projects and developments in the Sultanate. In 2009, it was given recognition as a ‘UFI-approved event’ by UFI. - ONA
E X H I B I T I O N Bank Muscat’s realty fund acquires project in Azaiba
Times News Service
MUSCAT: Izdihar, Bank Mus-cat’s real estate fund, has an-nounced its first acquisition of a new mixed-use property at Azaiba. A ceremony was held to mark the formalisation of the transaction between the bank and Al Habib & Company, in the pres-ence of Abdul Razak Ali Issa, chief executive of Bank Muscat, and top management team members from both institutions.
Izdihar Gardens is a modern mixed-use building comprising over 200 residential units with retail outlets on the ground floor. Equipped with modern amenities, the property enjoys big appeal, said a bank release.
Sulaiman Al Yahyai, chairman of Izdihar’s board of directors, complimented the Bank Muscat and Al Habib teams who worked in closing the transaction amidst challenging market conditions.
“The transaction with Al Habib represents the first investment by Izdihar and fulfils its objective of generating sustainable and attrac-tive long-term returns through investment in income generating real estate assets,” Al Yahyai said.
“Benefits of the investment transaction by Izdihar include superior asset selection, astute
investment structuring and pro-fessional property management. Long-term property management and assured leasing arrangement with Al Habib ensures that the interests of Izdihar’s investors are protected against market risks,” he added.
Long-term gains“The transaction with Izdihar is a remarkable achievement in chal-lenging times. Al Habib and Izdihar have come together in an arrange-ment which leverages each other’s strengths and risk-taking capabili-ties, resulting in healthy and long-term gains for all stakeholders,” Ali Mallalah Habib Lawati, chairman of Al Habib & Company.
“Izdihar, through Bank Mus-cat’s investment management expertise, provides the much needed professional guidance in the Omani real estate sector. We
thank the Bank Muscat team for their professional approach that resulted in the successful closure of the transaction,” he added.
Izdihar is a closed-ended real estate fund established under the Capital Market Authority, and seeks to generate regular income and long-term capital apprecia-tion through investments in real estate assets. The bank’s private equity and asset management team has been instrumental in launching the innovative product.
Abdullah Al Hinai, general manager (Wholesale Banking), congratulated the teams on the achievement. Al Hinai said: “Izdi-har is Oman’s first real estate fund structured on Real Estate Invest-ment Trust (REIT) principles. Bank Muscat takes pride in pio-neering unique offerings and the fund demonstrates these creden-tials by providing an opportunity
to institutional customers to real-ise regular income with substan-tially mitigated risks. We thank Al Habib for partnering with Izdihar on this transaction and are hope-ful that this partnership will fur-ther prosper in the future.”
Capital market“Izdihar reflects the bank’s com-mitment to promote the develop-ment of capital markets in Oman. The fund approved by the Capital Market Authority, while gener-ating sustainable and attractive long-term returns for investors, also enables development of the REIT market and contributes to strengthening the real estate sec-tor,” added Al Hinai.
Real Estate Investment Trusts (REIT) have been in existence since 1960 and are considered a distinct asset class. Modeled af-ter mutual funds, REIT invests in
or finances an income producing real estate asset. REITs provide investors with the benefits of pro-fessional management, regular income streams, diversification through investments in multiple income earning properties across segments and long-term capital appreciation.
Izdihar received good response in the initial fund raising round despite the challenging market conditions. With the closure of this transaction, Izdihar will seek additional commitments from ex-isting and new investors to capi-talise on attractive investment opportunities.
A ceremony was
held to mark the
formalisation of the
transaction between
Bank Muscat and Al
Habib & Company
MAGNIFICENT: Izdihar Gardens is a modern mixed-use building comprising over 200 residential units with retail outlets on the ground
floor. Equipped with modern amenities, the property enjoys big appeal– Supplied picture
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Sohar Port builds on
existing infrastructure
to boost mining sector
Times News Service
MUSCAT: As part of plans to fur-ther diversify its economy, Oman is fast developing new strategies that will add more value to the mining sector and the Sultanate’s substantial reserves of minerals.
Some of those plans which were unveiled this week include the development of a complete supply chain, or Sohar Dry Bulk Logistics Corridor, that will im-mediately enable the export of minerals that are mined and pro-cessed in Oman to international markets at competitive prices.
The signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between Sohar Port and Freezone, Vale in Oman’s Distribution Centre, and Oman National Investments De-velopment Company (Tanmia), is the first step. The agreement builds on world-class infrastruc-ture already in place in Sohar, cur-rently operated by Vale in Oman to import and export millions of tonnes of iron ore and pellets.
The facilities allow the largest ships in the world, so-called Very Large Ore Carriers with a capac-ity of up to 400,000 tonnes each, to be berthed at the port. Vale in Oman recently won the prestig-ious Best Specialist Dry Bulk Port Award for its Sohar-based termi-nal, at the ‘International Bulk Journal’ awards in Belgium.
Due to road connectivity in So-har and the upcoming cargo rail-way project, the agreement can immediately support the efficient flow of mining cargo to Sohar Port. From there the minerals can be stockpiled, processed and export-
ed to markets all over the world. Vale in Oman’s deep-water
bulk jetty can provide the re-quired services at globally com-petitive prices to help fuel fur-ther growth in sohar Port. The jetty is the longest in the region and ranks in the world’s top ten on draft. With Vale in Oman’s ini-tial investment of around US$2 billion, there is no need for addi-tional capital investment as the facilities are already operational since 2011.
“Oman is one of the most min-eral rich countries in the Mena re-gion and our strategy is to build on this to achieve competitiveness in the industrial minerals market and hence gain sustainable eco-nomic growth for the Sultanate,” said Rashid Saif Al Saadi, chief executive officer of TANMIA, one of the promoting entities of Min-erals Development Oman, which is currently under formation.
Vale in Oman’s chief executive officer, Sergio Espeschit, added: “Since our operations were inau-gurated and began operations four years ago, we committed to the Sultanate to create this Sohar Dry Bulk Logistics Corridor which will directly benefit the mining and minerals sector in Oman .”
Sohar Port chief executive of-ficer Andre Toet summed up the agreement when he said: “Our existing dry bulk infrastructure is world class; this agreement is about utilizing that same in-vestment for exports — and that makes so much sense for all of us; it should lead to more growth, more jobs and a more sustainable economic model for Oman.”
E X P O R T O F M I N E R A L S
India, China led investments in renewable energy in 2015: UNNEW YORK: India and China led developing countries in in-vestments made in renewable energy in 2015, when for the first time commitments in solar, wind and other renewables capacity by emerging economies surpassed those by wealthy nations, a United Nations-backed report has said.
The report ‘Global Trends in Renewable Energy Investment 2016’ by the UN Environment Pro-gramme said the developing world including China, India and Brazil committed a total of $156 billion in new renewables capacity last year, up 19 per cent on 2014. In-vestments by developed countries were down eight per cent in 2015 to $130 billion.
The year 2015 was the first time when investment in renewables in developing countries outweighed that in developed economies, the report said.
A large part of the record-break-ing investment in developing coun-tries took place in China, which lifted its investment by 17 per cent to $102.9 billion, more than a third of global commitments. India was also among the top 10 investing countries in renewable energy, with its commitments rising 22 per cent to $10.2 billion.
The US, Japan, UK Brazil, South Africa, Mexico and Chile all made it to the top 10 investing countries in 2015. “The investment (in In-
dia) took place against a backdrop of pro-renewable policies intro-duced by India’s BJP government. These include a target to almost-triple wind capacity to 60 GW by 2022,” the report said.
Major playersWithin the developing-economy category, the ‘Big Three’ of China, India and Brazil saw investment rise 16 per cent to $120.2 billion, while other developing economies enjoyed a 30 per cent bounce to
$36.1 billion.Among developed countries, in-
vestment in Europe was down 21 per cent, from $62 billion in 2014 to $48.8 billion in 2015, the conti-nent’s lowest figure for nine years despite record investments in off-shore wind projects.
The US was up 19 per cent to $44.1 billion, and in Japan invest-ment was much the same as the previous year at $36.2 billion.
The report said India enjoyed a second successive year of increas-
ing investment, breaching the $10 billion for the first time since 2011. It added that the highlight of In-dia’s performance in 2015 was a jump in utility-scale solar financ-ings to $4.6 billion, up 75 per cent on the previous year, although still a little below the 2011 record of $4.9 billion. Among the big pro-jects getting the financial go-ahead were the NTPC Kadiri PV plant phase one, at 250 MW, and the Adani Ramanathapuram PV in-stallation, at 200 MW. - PTI
R E N E W A B L E S
SOLR POWER: The year 2015 was the first time when investment in renewables in developing
countries outweighed that in developed economies, the UN report said. – Bloomberg News
B4
FEATURES U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
G old may rally to as much as $1,400
an ounce should risk aversion in-
tensify, accord-ing to the top-
ranked precious
metals forecaster, who dubbed
bullion a “superhero” when raising
his outlook for 2016.The metal may remain above
$1,200 this quarter and possibly
into next as investors seek a haven,
Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp.
(OCBC) economist Barnabas Gan
said in an e-mail to Bloomberg.
Singapore-based Gan, who previ-
ously saw prices dropping to $950
at the end of the year, revised his
outlook in a February 19 report,
and now sees a range of $1,000 to
$1,150 by the end of 2016.
The precious metal is the best
performer among commodities
this year as concern about a slow-
down in global growth and slump-
ing oil prices spurred financial-
market turmoil and increased
speculation that the Federal Re-
serve will hold off on raising US
borrowing costs. As investors piled
into bullion-backed funds and pro-
ducers’ shares jumped, forecasters
including Gan have been prompted
to rework their outlook for 2016.
“Gold is performing largely as a
safe-haven asset given the equity
doldrums and overall risk aver-
sion,” Gan said in response to e-
mailed questions, laying out his
case for changing his forecasts.
“Should risk aversion dominate
amid intensified global growth
headwinds, gold may well rally to
as high as $1,400.”Bullion’s surgeThe metal for immediate delivery
traded at $1,231.75 at 7:41am in
Singapore after rising on Febru-
ary 11 to $1,263.48, the highest in a
year. It’s gained 16 per cent in 2016
after three years of losses, while
global equities fell 7.3 per cent and
oil sank 15 per cent. It last traded
above $1,400 in 2013.“Amid the global equity down-
turn, very low oil prices and mag-
nified risk aversion seen since the
start of the year, one hero stood
up strong, providing shelter,” Gan
wrote in the report, describing
bullion as a “gold, the superhero”
in a headline. OCBC was ranked
by Bloomberg as the top precious
metals forecaster for the final
quarter of last year. Gan’s out-
look for the year-end depends on
how many times the Fed actually
raises rates. The target for $1,000
is based upon the assumption of
three hikes, while $1,150 sees a
single rise, Gan wrote in the report.
Global outlook“Of course, this outlook is predi-
cated on a relatively rosy global
outlook,” Gan said in the e-mail,
citing factors that included sus-
tained economic growth in the US
and no hard landing or rampant
defaults in China.Traders are pricing in a 10 per
cent chance of a rate increase at
the Fed’s meeting in March, down
from 51 percent at the beginning
of 2016. Policy makers should be
prepared to consider raising rates
next month despite recent vola-
tility, Kansas City Fed President
Esther George said recently, cit-
ing her outlook for solid growth
this year.“Although global economic
conditions still remain relatively
austere, US-centric prints remain
hopeful, especially on the labour
front, while inflation is likely to
tick higher in second half as tran-
sitory effects from low oil and im-
port prices dissipate,” Gan said.
— Bloomberg News
Although global economic
conditions still remain
relatively austere, US-centric prints remain
hopeful, especially on
the labour, while inflation
is likely to tick higher in
second half as transitory
effects from low oil and
import prices dissipate.Barnabas GanEconomist, Oversea-Chinese
Banking Corp.
H O W ‘ G O L D T H E S U P E R H E R O ’ P R O M P T E D T O P F O R E C A S T E R I N T O A R E T H I N K
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8th annual Jeep Jamboree thrills as Sharqiyah desert comes to life
MUSCAT: The ‘go anywhere, do anything’ spirit that’s always at the very heart of the Jeep brand came to life in Oman when Dhofar Automotive recently organised its 8th annual Jeep Jamboree Sharqi-yah Desert challenge, with over 50 Jeep Wranglers and 120 enthusi-astic participants taking part.
Jeep Jamboree is synonymous with thrill and excitement, a con-cept that has become immensely
popular in the Sultanate. A two-day event, the Jamboree adventure is designed to accommodate every level of expertise that includes an element of fun for everyone, from novices to experienced off-road drivers, says a press release.
The event has evolved over the years, and fuelled every year the enthusiasm and excitement of Jeep owners who participate in the an-nual event in large numbers. An ex-perienced support team helps the participants navigate a specially planned route in the Sharqiyah de-sert throughout the event.
“This year we witnessed experi-enced drivers from across the Sul-tanate participate who showcased unique driving capabilities with their vehicles,” said Biju Luckose, Marketing manager from Dhofar Automotive, exclusive dealers of the Jeep range in Oman.
“The ever changing terrain
of the Sharqiyah desert, deliv-ers a challenging fun-filled driv-ing weekend for customers. Jeep Jamboree events are the ideal way to help Jeep owners discover the unequalled capability of their ve-hicles in a safe, controlled way – whilst making new friends along the way. Once again, this year’s event culminated with partici-pants taking back with them some very unique memories and an ex-perience of a life-time.”
Eaborating further, he said: “With expert guides on hand to provide assurance and instruction, our patrons were confident to test their own limits and understand what their vehicle is truly capable of. We want to thank all our cus-tomers for making the 2016 Jeep Jamboree a resounding success.”
Day one of the event saw the participants gather at the Dhofar Automotive showroom in Azaiba
for a briefing on the itinerary that lay ahead. First stop was Al Kamil where everyone registered and had dinner prior to the start of the drive, led by the experts from The Guide Oman.
After the official registration and formalities were completed, the Dhofar team technicians were available to give the first time Jeep owners safety instructions and help them check their vehicles and tyres to prepare for the drive. The convoy entered the night driving phase in the desert to arrive at the first base camp, where they wound down for the night.
Every owner felt challenged, yet exhilarated, during each stage of this adventurous journey. Mar-wan Saud Raisi, a participant said, “This trip made me realise the potential of my vehicle as I had to push it to the limits at Sharqiyah. I am glad I participated in the Jeep
Jamboree and delighted with the performance of my Wrangler. Jeep vehicles in general, and Wranglers in particular, are fit for any off road or on road challenge.”
On day two, the day’s driving began with a thorough desert driv-ing briefing to help educate drivers on what to expect, what to do and reiteration of safety requirements while driving. The actual Jeep expedition began by continuing along the Bedouin highway and moving onto smaller dunes at the periphery of the great Sharqiyah. After two hours of driving, the Wrangler owners were encour-aged to test their limits and drive their vehicles across even tougher sand dunes, allowing for more adrenaline-pumping activity.
Maria Cristina Ferraz Alves, another participant said: “This expedition was a great experience and the support and guidance pro-vided throughout, ensured that everyone enjoyed to the fullest and felt extremely safe. I felt confident driving along with the other Jeep enthusiasts.” She added, “Jeeps are strong, reliable, and very suitable for mountain and desert driving, and also look good while driving in the city.”
Day two’s driving culminated just before sundown, leaving the evening to all participants and
crew to set up their tents and wind down around a bonfire where en-tertainment, games and dinner followed. The third and final day started with another desert driv-ing briefing session. At this point the drivers had to ramp up their confidence levels and capabilities to manoeuvre across even more challenging sand dunes.
With the guidance of experi-enced professionals on hand and a team of technicians from Dhofar Automotive, the journey ended on the edge of the desert. All par-ticipants headed back home with a brand new set of driving skills to add to their names, thanks to the Jeep Jamboree 8.
Built on over seven decades of legendary heritage, Jeep is the authentic sport-utility vehicle (SUV) with class-leading capabil-ity, craftsmanship and versatility for people who seek extraordinary journeys and delivers an open in-vitation to live life to the fullest by offering a full line of vehicles that continue to provide owners with a sense of security to handle any journey with confidence. In partic-ular, the Wrangler has always been appreciated for its extraordinary ability to adapt to any situation, from the city to the most extreme off-road tracks – whether or not there’s a road.
The two-day thrilling
Jamboree adventure
is designed to
accommodate every
level of expertise that
includes an element
of fun for everyone,
from novices to
experienced off-road
drivers
Qureshi Bab-Al-Hind launches new springmenu on first anniversary at Hormuz GrandMUSCAT: Qureshi Bab-Al-Hind at the Hormuz Grand Hotel, Mus-cat celebrates completing a full year of operation at the gastrono-my scene of Muscat.
Its anniversary was marked by celebrating the success of having secured ‘The Best North Indian Restaurant’ award at the 2015 Oman Restaurant Awards held in March, a worthy testament to the passion of the kitchen and ser-vice team through the year, says a press release.
The restaurant has launched new spring/summer menu crafted by the Qureshi brothers and the hotel team features tastefully balanced and curated dishes such as Shikam-
puri kebab - finely pounded mutton patties, spiced with cinnamon and peppercorns, stuffed with flavoured yogurt; Sunehri Khasta - cigarillos
of roomali roti stuffed with mush-rooms, churned cheese and hand ground herbs and Galouti kebab - minced tender beef, flavoured with cloves, saffron and kewda. New additions continue to be comple-mented by a fine selection of highly favoured signature dishes.
For someone not familiar with the Qureshi’s signature cuisine, for small groups, meetings or as an introduction to a first time foray into northern Indian cuisine, Bab-Al-Qureshi has introduced pre-set menus. These options offer excep-tional value for money.
In addition to the new a la carte menu and pre-set menus, unique ‘Feature Nights’ have been added
to pot. Saturday nights are a birya-ni indulgence, on Mondays special focus is on tandoori kebabs, with Wednesdays pandering to curry lovers. All are offered alongside the exquisite a la carte menu.
“Northern Indian cuisine has in general a far more delicate bal-ance of spices with reduced use of hot chilli than many other cuisines of India, allowing all to enjoy the finely crafted flavours,” noted the manager of Qureshi.
Having previously opened for dinner service only, Qureshi is now open for private events for lunch either in the main restau-rant or two of beautifully decorat-ed private dining rooms.
N O R T H E R N I N D I A N C U I S I N E
KR marks Earth Hour
MUSCAT: As part of continu-ous efforts to spread aware-ness on environment issues, the Khimji Ramdas Group par-ticipated in World Earth Hour held recently.
The company upheld the man-date of the global event to switch off all non-essential lights for one hour by turning out unnecessary electrical lights at KR Corporate, Pizza Hut and The Bollywood Restaurant between 8.30pm and
9.30pm, says a press release.Commenting on the conglom-
erate’s participation, Nailesh Khimji, director, Khimji Ramdas said“As a company that takes its role as a responsible corporate citizen seriously, we are staunch advocates of environment con-servation. Therefore, we are, once again, proud to be part of an initiative that aims to conserve our planet and preserve it for generations to come.”
E N V I R O N M E N T C O N S E R V A T I O N
Co-president of Chopard honoured
with GQ Lifetime Achievement award
MUSCAT: Karl-Friedrich Scheufele, co-president of Chopard, was honoured with the ‘GQ Lifetime Achievement Award’ for his out-standing contribution to the watch industry at the GQ’s Baselworld Cocktail Party.
Madhursinh Jesrani, general manager, Khimji’s Watches, exclu-sive representatives of Chopard in Oman, said: “Heartiest congratula-tions to Karl-Friedrich Scheufele on this recognition and honour. Under him and his esteemed fam-ily, Chopard has experienced spec-tacular development. It is a lead-ing name in the high-end watch and jewellery industry and the Scheufele family deserves all the accolades for upholding its tradi-tion of excellence.”
Karl-Friedrich Scheufele is known for his love of chronometry and fascination for the history of watchmaking. Born in Pforzheim in 1958, Scheufele was educated in Geneva before joining Chopard, the family company, in 1985. Dur-
ing his tenure as co-president, he has transformed the company’s men’s watchmaking operation into one of the most respected manu-facturers in Switzerland, says a press release.
Today, Chopard produces 80,000 watches a year and has over 2,000 employees. Another r. Scheufele’s outstanding achieve-ments includes rebuilding a watch manufacturer in Fleurier, which produces the L.U.C. collection of Haute Horlogerie. The company celebrates its 20th anniversary this year.
R E C O G N I T I O N
Heartiest congratulations to Karl-Friedrich Scheufele on this recognition and honour. Under him and his esteemed family, Chopard has experienced spectacular development. It is a leading name in the high-end watch and jewellery industry
Madhursinh JesraniGeneral manager, Khimji’s Watches
Benefits on Toyota Yaris till April 30
MUSCAT: The 2016 Toyota Yaris sedan offers an uncompro-mising blend of performance and style. The excellent handling and ride quality are one of the best in the class.
“The Yaris sedan impresses with a striking profile that stands out from the crowd. Up front, the bold face of Yaris features sharp-eyed headlights and a hexagon lower grille, while a spacious trunk gives the rear a distinctive look,” remarks an enthusiast,
“Premium details abound – from the piano black bumpers, to the chrome grille surround and tail-pipe, to the power-adjustable heated exterior mirrors, to the keyless entry offered as standard on all models,” he adds.
For those who have had their eye on the shiny Yaris, the good news is that up until April 30, the 2016 YM & 2015YM Yaris sedan is available with cash gift upto OMR650. (Conditions ap-ply. Benefits applicable for all
purchases except those made by government organisations and ministries. Visit nearest Toyota showroom for further details), says a press release.
With the cash gift it is even more worthwhile to own a Yaris - a car that looks compact but has a sur-prisingly roomy cabin, equipped with premium amenities.
In Oman, the nationwide parts and service network of SBA supports Toyota’s out-standing product quality.
‘ S U M M E R S U R P R I S E S ’
B6 S U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
ROUND-UPAttractive prizes up for grabs at Lulu Food Fiesta
MUSCAT: The latest edition of the Lulu Food Fiesta got to a fly-ing start early this week with a plethora of events that trans-formed the entire shopping area to a foodie’s paradise.
The festival has been immense-ly popular over the years and in a short while into this edition has received an overwhelming re-sponse. Along with an array of fun competitions, for every OMR10 spent on food products, shoppers also become eligible for a raffle draw to win a grand Jaguar XF 2.0 and fabulous Scratch & Win priz-es that includes iPhones, Sam-sung LED TVs, Philips Air Fryers, Lulu gift vouchers, Al Mudhish, Minara, Nido, Al Noor Basmati Rice and Suntop juice products,
says a press release. Setting the outlets buzzing with
activity will be each food product section that will conjure up an ar-ray of different types of foods that can tickle any palate. To top it all, there are also five Suzuki Swift hatchback cars to be won in a raf-fle. Scratch & Win prizes of Lulu gift vouchers worth OMR2,000 are also to be won on the purchase of OMR3 worth of Sadia products.
This edition of the Food Fiesta will feature the celebrated Mas-terchef Ripu Dhaman Handa. Ripu will meet and interact with enthu-siasts at Lulu Darsait and Bausher on March 31 and April 1, respec-tively. He will also be involved in a series of cooking demos as well as being the judge in the Al Mu-dhish Cookery Contest to be held at Bausher on April 2. T
he cookery contest has always been the highlight of the Food Fi-esta with ambitious chefs, enthusi-astic beginners, passionate foodies and anyone with a skill that fits the cookery bill. The most interesting recipes get a chance to prove their talent in front of a panel of judges headed by the chef himself.
With categories for specialists in each segment of cooking, partic-ipants can pick their area of exper-tise, be it in the salads, vegetarian cuisines or bold non-vegetarian concoctions. Known to always in-troduce the most exciting of cam-paigns, Lulu also makes sure that the best cooks from the contests are handsomely rewarded. Con-testants can easily participate by filling up a registration form avail-able at the customer service coun-ters in Lulu.
In addition to all of this will be the grand biryani treat where dif-ferent kinds of the favourite dish will be sampled throughout the store. The dish will feature the famous long grained Al Madina Basmati Rice. The food festival and cookery contest each year get shoppers to experience a variety of cuisines as people from differ-ent parts of the world get together to prepare and showcase the finest of dishes.
“This time around we have got a few surprises in the Food Fiesta. While there will be the popular cookery contest which will be a great platform to encourage the art
of cooking and don the chef’s hat, there will also be cooking demos and wet sampling of various kinds, we have thrown in some fabulous gifts to take the festival itself to a new level,” said Ananth A. V., direc-tor, Lulu – Oman and India. “We have put together some of the fin-est brands and some of the best of-fers this market currently has in an effort to offer greater value for our customers and we are glad that the efforts behind the promotion are bearing fruits already,” he added.
Lulu’s winning formula of value-for-money quality shopping has been very well received by con-sumers all over the world.
An innovator in the retail in-dustry with an impressive pres-ence across the region and an ever expanding footprint, Lulu has al-ways remained a genuine symbol of quality retailing. Today, Lulu is immensely popular among its discerning shoppers as a one-stop shop for all their needs, true to its tagline Lulu, where the world comes to shop”. The innumerable shoppers who patronise Lulu daily are a true testament to the popu-larity of its brand.
Along with an array
of fun competitions,
for every OMR10
spent on food
products, shoppers
also become eligible
for a raffle draw to
win a grand Jaguar
XF 2.0 and fabulous
Scratch & Win prizes
OAB celebrates Earth HourMUSCAT: As part of its stead-fast commitment to protecting the environment, Oman Arab Bank (OAB) recently turned off all non-essential lighting at its head office in Ghubra to mark Earth Hour 2016.
In addition, the bank also encouraged all its employees across its nation-wide footprint to do their part and help save the environment for the hour, says a press release.
OAB’s head office is essential-ly an environmentally friendly building. It is fully equipped with auto sensors throughout all of-fices and corridors, which means that lights are only used when necessary and a considerable amount of power is saved on a regular basis.
Mutassim bin Hamoud Al Zadjali, head of Corporate Com-munications at Oman Arab Bank, commented” “We believe that safeguarding our eco-system and limited natural resources is the responsibility of each and every single person living on this planet. Oman Arab Bank has been observ-ing Earth Hour for many years now and has successfully and proudly adopted a wealth of measures that aim to enhance energy efficiency, minimise waste, and of course, protect our precious planet.”
C O R P O R A T E R E S P O N S I B I L I T Y
OCCI chairman inaugurates Al Ahlam UK Education Expo
MUSCAT: Al Ahlam UK Edu-cation Expo 2016 was officially inaugurated by Sheikh Abdullah bin Salim Al Rawas, chairman of Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), Dhofar Governorate at Hilton Salalah Re-sort – Al Balid Ballroom recently.
Bridges the gap The inauguration was also at-tended by several officials and
delegates from various minis-tries, local universities and col-leges and professionals from the education sector. The expo since its inception in 2011, has grown to bridge the gap between UK higher education institutions and stu-dents in Oman planning to study in UK, says a press release.
The expo welcomes those in-terested in pursuing their higher education in the UK to explore the
variety of courses being offered and to meet representatives from universities, higher education in-stitutions and English language course providers.
The expo was organised by Al Nimr Expo in association with Al Ahlam Higher Education Servic-es – Oman’s leading UK student counselling service agency li-censed by the Ministry of Higher Education.
H I G H E R E D U C A T I O N
Oman Arab Bank has been observing Earth Hour for many years now and has successfully and proudly adopted a wealth of measures that aim to enhance energy efficiency, minimise waste, and of course, protect our precious planet
Mutassim Al ZadjaliHead of Corporate Communications at Oman Arab Bank
ahlibank announces MyHassad daily winnersMUSCAT: ahlibank has an-nounced the names of the MyHas-sad daily prize draw winners.
Sulaiman Nasser Saif Al Maawali from Seeb branch, Rajab Ali Rajab Al Kathairi from Main branch, Jamila Abdul Rahman Ali Albukhaly from Seeb branch, Sa-bah Said Ibrahim Al Bulushi from Khuwair branch and Hari Hara Selvan Duramoni from Khuwair branch, were the lucky winners of
OMR1,000 each for the week, says a press release.
MyHassad savings account con-tinues to successfully satisfy the existing customers and attract new ones.
MyHassad Saving Scheme was introduced in July 2008 as an ex-tension of the bank’s tradition of product innovation. Opening My-Hassad Saving account is simple and easy.
Customers need only to open their MyHassad account with OMR100 for their chance to win OMR1,000 in the next working day’s draw hence their chance to “open today and win tomor-row” continues. Further en-hancements in March 2009 al-lows customers to participate in the OMR10,000 monthly draw, by maintaining a minimum OMR250 during the month.
S A V I N G S S C H E M E
B7S U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
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New Ferrari 488 Spider launched in Sultanate
MUSCAT: The stunning new Ferrari 488 Spider was launched in Oman by Alfardan Motors, the official importer of Ferrari in the Sultanate. The event took place at a remarkable reception held at the Al Bustan Palace in Muscat, says a press release.
The Ferrari 488 Spider is the lat-est chapter in Maranello’s ongoing history of open-top V8 sports cars and is Ferrari’s most powerful ever
mid-rear-engined V8 car to fea-ture the patented retractable hard top (RHT), along with the highest level of technological innovation and with innovative design.
The RHT solution ensures lower weight (-25kg) and better cockpit comfort compared to the classic fabric soft-top. Just like all previous spider versions of Ferrari’s models, this is a car that is aimed squarely at clients seeking open-air motor-ing pleasure in a high-performance sports car with an unmistakable Ferrari engine sound.
Every area of the car has been designed to set new technologi-cal benchmarks for the sector: from the aluminium spaceframe chassis and bodyshell to the new turbo-charged V8, aerodynamics that reconcile the need for greater downforce with reduced drag along with the specific cabin air flow de-mands of an open-top car, and ve-hicle dynamics that render it fast, agile and instantly responsive.
Beneath the engine cover throbs the 3902 cc turbo-charged V8 that debuted just a few months ago on the 488 GTB. Its performance lev-els are nothing short of extraordi-nary: a maximum power output of 670 CV combined with maximum torque of 760 Nm at 3000 rpm send the 488 Spider sprinting from 0 to 100 km/h in 3 seconds flat and from 0 to 200 km/h in 8.7 seconds.
This is also the most aerody-namically efficient Ferrari spider ever built, thanks to a series of complex aero solutions designed to guarantee optimal downforce whilst reducing drag, two normal-ly mutually-exclusive objectives. Maranello’s engineers managed to achieve both goals simultaneously by introducing several innovative devices, including a blown spoiler and an aerodynamic underbody incorporating vortex generators.
Designed around the concept of the retractable hard top, the 488 Spider has a spaceframe chassis
made of 11 different aluminium alloys combined with other noble metals, such as magnesium, each one used in a highly specific way.
Working with aluminium is important not only in functional terms but also because, by tradi-tion, it demands every detail be treated sculpturally to express the technical excellence of the project through its beauty.
The introduction of a sophisti-cated simulator, similar to the one used by the Formula 1 Scuderia, allowed the human factor to in-fluence the car’s design from the earliest stages by giving the engi-neers instant feedback from the test-drivers long before the first 488 prototype was physically built.
To make its dynamic behaviour even more engaging, the develop-ment team honed the car’s me-chanical set-up in tandem with its electronic systems which are now fully integrated with the SSC2 side slip angle control system.
The event took place
at a remarkable
reception held by
Alfardan Motors at Al
Bustan Palace Hotel
OPEN-TOP V8 SPORTS CAR: The Ferrari 488 Spider is the most powerful mid-engined convertible that the company has yet made. – Shabin
E./TIMES OF OMAN
Alargan Towell supports meritorious school studentsMUSCAT: Complementing ef-forts towards social responsibil-ity in the local community, Alar-gan Towell, one of the Sultanate’s leading real estate development companies, has pledged finan-cial support to 70 students of the Thabit bin Qais School for boys and the Al Amal Girls School in the wilayat of Barka.
The company has consistently invested in the betterment of the community surrounding their projects, and this initiative to sup-port the education of children liv-ing near the Al Waha integrated residential project – largest in the area so far, follows in the same vi-sion, says a press release.
Alargan Towell has always been committed to the improvement of education across Oman. Recently the company sponsored a cer-emony to honour students from the Al Amal Girls School for their exemplary performance in aca-demics. This event was conducted under the auspices of Sulaiman bin Hamoud Al Busaidi, deputy secretary general of the Council of Ministers, in the presence of Dr Waleed bin Said bin Sinan Al Hinai, director-general of Edu-
cational Conservatism of South Batinah, in addition to Abdulra-heem Al Hooti, member of the Municipal Council, a number of supervisors from the directorate of South Al Batinah, along with the students’ families.
Sharing her thoughts on the students initiative, Abeer bint Khamis Al Balushi, head of Mar-keting at Alargan Towell, noted: “We have consistently dedicated ourselves to becoming a signifi-cant partner with local commu-nities. This not only ensures that we have close ties with society, but also gives us the opportunity to give back in a way that makes a meaningful difference. Our efforts to support the students in the wilayat of Barka stems from this
very belief. We are very pleased to have been able to support the student honouring ceremony, as well as make a financial donation to students – coinciding with the popular Muscat International Book Fair 2016. We are confident that this significant initiative will not only inculcate the love of reading among children from a young age, but also go a long way in building a generation of well-informed readers who form the future of the Sultanate.”
Abeer also added: “Creating a new benchmark in the design and standards of integrated residential complexes in the Sultanate, our Al Waha project offers a variety of res-idential components including vil-las, townhouses and apartments,
in addition to complete communi-ty facilities and amenities to serve the local residents. To accompany these offerings, it is great that the local public understands the Alar-gan Towell vision and how we play an active and supportive role in the local community.”
Naima bint Masoud Al Yahmadi, principal of Al Amal Girls School for basic education, shared her appreciation for Alargan Towell’s support. She said: “It gives me great pleasure to thank Alargan Towell for their contribution to our students. Their contribution to the event honouring academic excel-lence was particularly encourag-ing for the students. Furthermore, the company’s monetary support to the girls for the first semester of the current academic year was a truly unique and enlightening ex-perience for them.”
Salem bin said Al Badri, princi-pal of the Thabit bin Qais School for boys, expressed his sincere gratitude to Alargan Towell and commented, “We thank Alargan Towell for supporting our efforts by aiding excelling students, and hope that other private sector companies will follow their lead.”
F I N A N C I A L S U P P O R T
Bank Sohar takes part
in GCC Traffic Week
MUSCAT: In line with the gov-ernment’s focus on road safety and its emphasis given to low-ering the death toll on Oman’s roads, Bank Sohar has recently participated in the GCC Traffic Week events in Buraimi and Al Batinah North.
The events, following the theme ‘Your decision determines your destiny’, were organised by the Royal Oman Police (ROP) recently with the aim of raising awareness on the importance of safe driving, says a press release.
The Buraimi event was attend-ed by Hamed Khamis Al Shamkhi, Buraimi branch manager at Bank Sohar. The Al Batinah North event were attended by Rashid Saif Al Maskry, the district manager of Batinah region and Naeema Al Farsi, the branch manager of the Al Batinah North branch.
The week-long events included several traffic safety awareness campaigns and guidance pro-grammes for both children and adults of the local community. They also included exhibitions, radio programmes, visits from awareness ambassadors and more. Both events also saw extensive participation from several schools, colleges and university students.
Commenting on the bank’s participation in the event, Khamis Masoud Al Rahbi, the senior AGM of Branches and Re-tail Sales at Bank Sohar said: “As a community-oriented organi-sation, Bank Sohar has always given great importance to the initiative related to road safety. Promoting the importance of staying safe on the road is a major part of this commitment and we
aim to do everything in our power to help change attitudes towards road safety. Our support of events such as these further reinforces this commitment.
“Furthermore, we are proud to participate with the Royal Oman Police and their outstand-ing efforts in raising awareness towards safe driving. Initiatives such as these go a long way in helping safeguard the lives and health of those who are vulner-able on our roads and highways as well as protecting all road users, including pedestrians, cyclists and road-side workers.”
Since its inception, Bank Sohar has consistently made meaningful contributions towards the wellbe-ing of the local community at dif-ferent levels and aims to continue to do so through its multi-faceted programme of corporate social responsibility activities. The bank firmly believes that raising gen-eral awareness of road safety, es-pecially with the youth, will have a positive impact on society, both mentally and financially.
A W A R E N E S S O N S A F E D R I V I N G
The events, following
the theme ‘Your decision
determines your destiny’,
were organised by
the Royal Oman Police
recently with the aim of
raising awareness on the
importance of safe driving
B8
ROUND-UPS U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
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All-new 2016 Subaru XV launched
MUSCAT: The new 2016 Subaru XV was recently launched at the Subaru flagship showroom in Muscat. The event was attended by Yasushi Enami, general man-ager - Subaru Overseas Sales & Marketing Division 2, Sheikh Saad Suhail Bahwan, chairman - OTE Group and Anil Dua, managing di-rector - OTE Group.
The event also marked the intro-duction of Subaru’s unique brand ambassador programme for Oman and the new Subaru XV was un-veiled by Fahad bin Said Al Touqi, Subaru’s brand ambassador from Muscat, says a press release.
Speaking on the occasion, Yasu-shi remarked, “Brand Subaru is ad-mired not only for its engineering prowess but also for the energy and passion that it evokes. Enjoyment and peace of mind is the value that Subaru offers its customers. The new XV has been well-received across key markets and we believe it will also delight Subaru fans in the Sultanate.”
Delivering the keynote address, Saad Suhail Bahwan said: “For Oman Trading Establishment, Subaru has always held a pride of place right since our early days. Today is another milestone for OTE as we launch the new Subaru XV in Oman in the presence of the Global Subaru Leadership team.”
Elaborated upon the energy of brand Subaru, Anil said: “Subarists epitomise the spirit of passion, dy-namism and loyalty - they are our ambassadors in the marketplace. It is this set of loyal fans that moti-vate us to go the extra mile for our valued customers in Oman.”
The new Subaru XV combines excellent design with engaging driving experience to create a vehi-cle that makes a great companion
for practical daily usage and week-end leisure lifestyle. The stylish new Subaru XV blends functional-ity and form with élan. At 220mm of ground clearance, the XV offers excellent off-roading capabilities. The excitement increases as you take the road less taken, or choose to create your own trail with this capable vehicle.
The Subaru XV combines the high ground clearance of an SUV, with low centre of gravity, the bal-ance of a sports sedan while de-livering benefits of symmetrical AWD. Mated to the Subaru Boxer engine for a near-perfect symmet-rical layout, the symmetrical AWD delivers gratifying power with ex-ceptional traction, providing bal-ance and stability for total control in ever-shifting road conditions.
The horizontally opposed Boxer engine, with a flat profile, lends the vehicle a low centre of gravity and more balanced weight distri-bution, with significantly reduced vibration. These features further enhance the drive experience of the Subaru XV.
The XV’s lively performance is enhanced by its bold new look that includes a stylish new grille, bumper and headlamps. The face of the XV has been rejuvenated with new headlights, wider grill, and bolder trim around the fog-lights, further accentuate the sporty stance of the XV.
The vibrant crossover gets a major facelift on the inside too, with defined interior panels, add-ed soft touch materials, and steer-ing with new switch gear that is
easier to use and houses more practical functions.
The XV features many innova-tions to put the occupants at utter ease. The seats are ergonomically designed for long-term comfort with supportive, vibration-ab-sorbing cushioning.
The centrally located touch-screen makes listening to your favorite tunes a breeze. Simply connect the smartphone through Bluetooth or the USB systems for added ease, and choose the options right on the touchscreen.
With the ceiling-mounted mi-crophone added, the available Bluetooth hands-free system also automatically connects compat-ible mobile phones for convenient, handsfree talking. It also enables wireless audio streaming audio
from the compatible Bluetooth de-vices and reading e-mails.
The high grade multi-function display shows all the needed info including time, temperature, self-check maintenance alerts, and safety information such as Vehicle Dynamics Control monitoring.
Featuring more hand-free op-tions than ever before, the XV also has voice recognition and the op-tional Siri Eyes-Free integration, allowing Apple users to link and make hands-free calls, play music, check emails and search the web.
To bring the entertainment alive, the XV features premium 6-speaker 180 watt audio system, with the speakers specially tuned for the XV’s acoustics, resulting in a rich sound that enraptures the senses. Two additional speakers
are integrated into the instrument panel, further accentuating the mids and highs for a fuller sound.
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The event also
marked the
introduction of
Subaru’s unique
brand ambassador
programme for Oman
and the new Subaru
XV was unveiled by
Fahad bin Said Al
Touqi, Subaru’s
brand ambassador
from Muscat
WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM
SPOR SY O U R G A M E
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INDIA AND AUSTRALIA SHOOTOUT ELEMENTARY FOR WATSON
>C3>C5
TEETH: MISSING IN ACTION
INSIDE LIFESTYLE
Unbeaten Windies face AfghanistanNAGPUR: They may have se-cured a semifinal slot with three straight victories but in-form West Indies would like to con-tinue their winning ways when they face a spirited Afghanistan in their final group game of ICC World Twenty20 cricket tourna-ment here on Sunday.
Afghanistan will hope that the West Indies take it easy after mak-ing the knockouts and sign off with a consolation victory at the Vidarb-ha Cricket Association Stadium.
West Indies captain Darren Sammy said his team would have a party after qualifying for the semifinals with a nervy last over victory against South Africa. They are already eyeing their next week’s last-four match.
The 2012 champions have been in fine form with convincing wins over England and Sri Lanka though they made a heavy weath-er of a small chase against the Proteas before eventually pulling off a three-wicket last over win, and the Sammy-led Caribbeans would start as overwhelming fa-vourites on Sunday.
The Afghans, on the other hand, have won hearts in India with their spirited showing in the mega-event, giving tough compe-tition to the other teams in their group, especially against England.
They gave South Africa a fright last weekend when they raced to 105 for two in pursuit of the Pro-teas’ total of 210, although they were ultimately beaten after a flurry of wickets.
Against England, they had a very good chance of registering a victory in their last fixture after
sending half of the Three Lions’ batting lineup back to the pavilion before the end of the 10th over.
England were reduced to 85 for seven at one stage before Moeen Ali bailed them out of the woods and spared his team the blushes.
Afghanistan have yet to beat one of cricket’s big guns but leg-spinner Rashid Khan said they would become more competi-tive if they get more game time against top opposition.
“When we play more interna-tional matches then the improve-ment will come,” he said after the England match. “The only thing is, we have to play more matches against these teams.”
A win over the West Indies would consolidate their place in the top 10 of the T20 Internation-al rankings and increase their chances of being invited to play more matches against big teams.
Rashid is part of a four-pronged spin attack that should relish a Nagpur pitch that turned alarmingly in India’s opener against New Zealand.
West Indies (from): Darren Sammy (captain), Samuel Badree, Sulieman Benn, Carlos Braithwaite, Dwayne Bravo, Johnson Charles, Andre Fletcher, Chris Gayle, Jason Holder, Ashley Nurse, Denesh Ram-din, Andre Russell, Marlon Samuels, Jerome Taylor, Evin Lewis.
Afghanistan (from): Asghar Stanikzai (captain), Amir Hamza, Dawlat Zadran, Gulbadin Naib, Ha-mid Hassan, Karim Sadiq, Mohd Nabi, Mohd Shahzad, Najibullah Zadran, Noor Ali Zadran, Rashid Khan, Sami-ullah Shenwari, Shafiqullah Shafiq, Shapoor Zadran, Usman Ghani. - PTI
P R E V I E W
SPIRITED SHOW: Afghanistan coach Inzamam-ul Haq, left,
speaks with team captain Asghar Stanikzai during a training
session at the Vidarbha Cricket Association Stadium in Nagpur
on Saturday. – AFP
‘India-Australia game will be match of the tournament’
KOLKATA: New Zealand bats-man Ross Taylor on Saturday said the India versus Australia World Twenty 20 match is go-ing to be “probably the game of the tournament”.
“It’s going to be a great game, probably the game of the tour-nament. Theoretically, it’s the quarterfinal. We are not leaving Kolkata tomorrow (Sunday). I will be in my room watching it. Hopefully the best team can win,” Taylor told reporters here.
In their last group game on Saturday, New Zealand over-whelmed Bangladesh by 75 runs. However, Bangladesh left-arm pacer Mustafizur Rahman picked up a five-for for just 22 runs.
“This was the first time I played him (Rehman). He bowled outstandingly. I think he’s only 20 years old. He’s a very good selection for Sussex captain Luke Wright. I’m head-ing off to Sussex after this. He will also play IPL as well as Sus-sex in county. He’s going to be a very good signing,” Taylor said.
“What makes him tough is that he’s got a unique action as well. He’s quite hard to pick up early on in your innings. He’s very smart and the way he bowls, some of the best play-ers will have to struggle against him,” he added. - IANS
C R I C K E T
England survive Angelo assault to reach semis
NEW DELHI: England held their nerve to beat Sri Lanka by 10 runs in a thrilling World Twenty20 Group One match on Satur-day, reaching the semifinals and knocking the defending champi-ons out of the tournament.
Jos Buttler struck a blistering
unbeaten 66 to power England to a commanding 171 for four after they had made a slow start.
The 2010 winners returned to blow away Sri Lanka’s top order before Angelo Mathews battled a hamstring injury to drag his team back into the match with a brilliant
unbeaten 73. Sri Lanka’s defeat also dashed South Africa’s hopes of qualifying for the last four.
Put in to bat, England lost Alex Hales in the second over but Jason Roy (42) and Joe Root (25) added 61 runs in 8.3 overs to steady the innings. Leg-spinner Jeffrey
Vandersay dismissed both bats-men but Buttler capitalised on the foundation, hitting eight fours and two sixes in his unbeaten 37-ball blitz to punish the Sri Lankans.
England skipper Eoin Morgan made 22 before being run out and Ben Stokes faced the final delivery of the innings from Thisara Perera which he hit for six.
Sri Lanka made a dismal start in their pursuit of a victory that would have kept their semifinal hopes alive. Openers Tillakaratne Dilshan and Dinesh Chandimal were dismissed inside the first eight deliveries and the top order caved in as Malinda Siriwardene and Lahiru Thirimanne fell off successive deliveries.
Mathews and Kapugedera re-vived the chase, however, mix-ing caution with aggression and smashing three sixes off an Adil Rashid over that produced 21 runs.
Perera scored 20 quick runs down the order but Mathews looked tired by the end and could only score four of the 15 runs re-quired from the last over sent down by Stokes. - Reuters
Buttler struck a
blistering unbeaten
66 to power England
to a commanding 171
for four. For Sri Lanka,
Angelo Mathews
waged a lone battle
but failed to give the
finishing touches
ENGLANDJ. Roy lbw Vandersay 42A. Hales lbw Herath 0J. Root c Thirimanne b Vandersay 25J. Buttler (not out) 66E. Morgan run out 22B. Stokes (not out) 6Extras (b-1, lb-5, w-3, nb-1) 10 Total (4 wkts, 20 overs) 171Did not bat: M. Ali, C. Jordan, D. Willey, A. Rashid, L. Plunkett Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-65, 3-88, 4-162.Bowling: A. Mathews 4-0-25-0; H. Herath 4-1-27-1; J. Vandersay 4-0-26-2; M. Siri-wardana 1-0-9-0; D. Chameera 4-0-36-0 (nb-1, w-1); T. Perera 2-0-27-0 (w-2); D. Shanaka 1-0-15-0.SRI LANKAD. Chandimal c Buttler b Jordan 1
T. Dilshan c Hales b Willey 2M. Siriwardana c Morgan b Willey 7L. Thirimanne run out 3A. Mathews (not out) 73C. Kapugedera c Stokes b Plunkett 30T. Perera c Willey b Jordan 20D. Shanaka c Root b Jordan 15R. Herath b Jordan 1J. Vandersay (not out) 0Extras (lb-2, w-7) 9Total (8 wkts; 20 overs) 161Did not bat: D. Chameera Fall of wickets: 1-3, 2-4, 3-15, 4-15, 5-95, 6-137, 7-155, 8-157.Bowling: D. Willey 4-0-26-2; C. Jordan 4-0-28-4 (w-3); L. Plunkett 4-0-23-1 (w-2); B. Stokes 4-0-19-0 (w-2); A. Rashid 2-0-31-0; M. Ali 2-0-32-0.
S C O R E B O A R D
THRILLING WIN: England’s players celebrate after defeating Sri Lanka in a crucial World T20 match in New Delhi on Saturday. – Reuters
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SPORTSS U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
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In recent times the rivalry between India and Austral-ia has perhaps been greater
than the Indo-Pak one simply because Pakistan is not quite the team it used to be earlier. That cutting edge, head to head, toe to toe, over my dead body, clash is more with the Aussies now and the Mohali match is going to be no different.
Australia have been a world class side since the first ever Test match in 1877 and but for the odd few years where they lost players to rebel tours to South Africa, they have always been a tough team to beat. If India has become better it is in no small measure due to the regular, al-most annual contests with Aus-tralia from whom there are many
good things to learn. The ‘never say die’ attitude is one such and which was seen in the nail-biting game against Bangladesh.
India will need the same spirit when they take on Australia in what is the quarterfinals. Whichever team wins gets through to the knockout and so the intensity will be extremely high indeed. Australia have never won the World T20 and so will be keen to have the trophy in the cabinet of Cricket Australia
while India will be looking to be the first home team to win the trophy, which they won in the inaugural year itself. Both teams have lost to New Zealand but both have bounced back in style. The Australian batting is looking a lot better than the Indians, who have got starts but not carried on and that will be the key. If one goes by the pitch that was seen in the Australia-Pakistan game, then there won’t be much spin and that could suit the batsmen of both teams. The Aussies have much greater depth in their batting with James Faulkner batting down at No. 7.
It is hard to separate the teams given their current form and as always the team that keeps its cool will emerge victorious. - PMG
Hard to separate Indian and Australian teamsC O M M E N T A R Y India, Australia
in do-or-die clash
MOHALI: A scrappy India will have to lift their game by several notches against an improving Australia when the two fierce ri-vals clash in a virtual quarterfinal match of the ICC World Twen-ty20 here on Sunday.
India, who were the over-whelming favourites going into the tournament, have been far from convincing in the three games they have played so far.
The inaugural edition cham-pions began their campaign with a 47-run crushing defeat against New Zealand before bouncing back with a six-wicket win over arch-rivals Pakistan.
But the home side would have found themselves in a precari-ous situation if it was not for a self destructive Bangladesh and a brilliant sprint stumping from captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni in the previous game which they won by a mere one run.
Australia, on the other hand, have been improving with eve-ry game and a convincing win against Pakistan in a must-win match here on Friday have pre-pared them well for another knock-out battle.
James Faulkner and Shane Wat-son think playing India in their own backyard is the ultimate challenge
but the home team also knows they have a daunting task at hand.
India, however, will take con-fidence from the fact that they blanked Australia in Australia in the three-match series in January even though they played against a different squad then.
In any case, another close con-test is expected between the two tough rivals at the I S Bindra Sta-dium which is expected to be fully packed. India’s star-studded bat-ting have been below par starting with the performance of open-ers Shikhar Dhawan and Rohit Sharma, who are yet to fire in the competition.
Star batsman Virat Kohli will be key to India’s chances again but the others too need to rise to the occasion. Suresh Raina scored a 30 against Bangladesh but he is facing the heat alongside Yuvraj Singh, who will have the added pressure of performing at his home ground.
The bowlers have done a de-cent job especially the spin com-bine of Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja.
The nail-biter against Bang-ladesh was also a good test for youngsters like Jaspreet Bumrah and Hardik Pandya, who did well to bounce back and help India
clinch a thriller. The experienced Ashish Nehra has been tidy in his four overs. The Mohali pitch may not offer a lot of turn but the In-dian spinners will play a big role in Sunday’s game.
The batsmen, who fell to spin against New Zealand, will have to negotiate the likes of Adam Zampa. The rookie leg-spinner has provided crucial strikes in the last two games and won the confi-dence of his skipper Steven Smith.
Fielding is another area where India must improve after an ordi-nary effort against Bangladesh.
Australia are in good spirits af-ter the win against Pakistan in a high-scoring match. Opener Us-man Khawaja has been in top form and Smith and Watson were back amongst the runs on Friday. They have played a game here and have already adjusted to the conditions.
It remains to be seen what opening combination Australia go with. Khawaja and Watson opened in the first two games be-fore Aaron Finch joined Khawaja against Pakistan. The experiment of pushing the dangerous David Warner down the order has not worked for the Australians so far.
Australia (from): Steven Smith (captain), Shane Watson, Da-vid Warner, Ashton Agar, James Faulkner, John Hastings, Usman Kha-waja, Glenn Maxwell, Andrew Tye, Adam Zampa, Peter Nevill, Mitchell Marsh, Josh Hazlewood, Aaron Finch, Nathan Coulter-Nile.
India (from): Mahendra Singh Dhoni (captain), Virat Kohli, Suresh Raina, Rohit Sharma, Yuvraj Singh, Ravichandran Ashwin, Jasprit Bum-rah, Shikhar Dhawan, Harbhajan Singh, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Shami, Pawan Negi, Ashish Nehra, Hardik Pandya, Ajinkya Rahane. - PTI
India have been far from convincing in
the three games they have played so far.
Australia, on the other hand, have been
improving with every game
FAR FROM CONVINCING: India’s M.S. Dhoni and Virat Kohli play football during a training session in Mohali on Saturday. – PTI
KOLKATA: New Zealand pro-duced another clinical performance to record a crushing 75-run victory over Bangladesh in their final group game and entered the semifinals of the ICC World Twenty20 as table toppers here on Saturday.
New Zealand’s win meant Bang-ladesh pacer Mustafizur Rahman’s five-for went in vain at the iconic Eden Gardens.
The left-arm pacer grabbed a career best five for 22, bowling some unplayable cutters, but New Zealand still managed a competi-tive 145 for eight in the stipulated 20 overs.
However, Bangladesh soon faced the ignominy of being bowled out for their lowest ever
total, ending their innings at 70 in 15.4 overs. This was New Zealand’s fourth straight win in the event, ensuring they remained unbeaten in the Super 10 stage.
Bangladesh batsmen put up a horror show after opener Tamim Iqbal (3) was brilliantly run out by Colin Munro in the second over. Their previous lowest of 78 all out, incidentally, was against the same team in Hamilton.
Ish Sodhi (three for 21) and El-liott (three for 12) dented Bang-ladesh’s chase as their batsmen showed complete lack of applica-tion. The match was further de-layed for 15 minutes because of power failure in one of the four floodlight towers.
Bangladesh will thus return home winless from the sixth edi-tion of the mega event.
Earlier, Mustafizur dismissed
openers Henry Nicholls (7) and Kane Williamson (42) and was deadly with his variation. He re-turned to bowl at the death and completed a fine five-four with two wickets in successive balls.
Despite Mustafizur’s incisive bowling, skipper Mashrafe Mor-taza opted for a defensive strat-egy, and that allowed Williamson and Colin Munro (35) to keep the scoreboard ticking.
Ross Taylor also played a fine cameo of 28 from 24 balls (2x4s, 1x6) to take New Zealand to a total which proved enough.
Opting to bat, the Kiwis were surprisingly sluggish with their batting display in the absence of Martin Guptill who was rested.
Mustafizur bowled two deadly overs, shattering the stumps of Nicholls and Williamson, before Mortaza took the pacer off to keep
him for the death. Having bowled Nicholls with a slower cutter to give his team a breakthrough in the fourth over, Mustafizur was brought back in the ninth and the New Zealand skipper attacked him with a boundary.
But the bowler bounced back strongly to frustrate William-son with his variation in the next two balls before disturbing the timber. - PTI
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SPORTSS U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
Clinical New Zealanders thrash Bangladesh for a 75-run victoryMustafizur grabbed
a career best five for
22 but New Zealand
still managed a
competitive 145 for
eight in 20 overs.
However, Bangladesh
soon faced the
ignominy of being
bowled out for their
lowest ever total,
ending their innings
at 70 in 15.4 overs
UNBEATEN: New Zealand players celebrate during in their World T20 match against Bangladesh in Kolkata on Saturday. – Reuters
NEW ZEALANDH. Nicholls b Mustafizur Rahman 7K. Williamson b Mustafizur Rahman 42C. Munro b Al Amin Hossain 35R. c M. Mithun b Al Amin Hossain 28C. Anderson b Mashrafe Mortaza 0G. Elliott c Shuvagata b Mustafizur 9L Ronchi (not out) 9M.J. Santner b Mustafizur Rahman 3N. McCullum b Mustafizur Rahman 0M.J. McClenaghan (not out) 6Extras (b-4, lb-1, w-1) 6 Total (8 wkts, 20 overs) 145Fall of wickets: 1-25, 2-57, 3-99, 4-100, 5-122, 6-127, 7-139, 8-139.Bowling: Mashrafe Mortaza 3-0-21-1; Shuvagata Hom 3-0-16-0; Shakib Al Hasan 4-0-33-0 ; Mustafizur Rahman 4-0-22-5; Al Amin Hossain 4-0-27-2 (w-1); Mahmudullah 2-0-21-0.
BANGLADESHTamim Iqbal run out 3Mohammad Mithun b McClenaghan 11Sabbir Rahman c Santner b McCullum 12Shakib Al Hasan c McCullum b Santner 2Soumya Sarkar st Ronchi b Sodhi 6Mahmudullah b Sodhi 5Mushfiqur Rahim b Elliott 0Shuvagata Hom (not out) 16Mashrafe Mortaza lbw Elliott 3Mustafizur Rahman c Ronchi b Elliott 6Al Amin Hossain b Sodhi 0Extras (lb-5, w-1) 6Total (all out; 15.4 overs) 70Fall of wickets: 1-4, 2-29, 3-31, 4-38, 5-43, 6-44, 7-48, 8-59, 9-65.Bowling: McCullum 2-0-6-1 (w-1); Anderson 2-0-7-0; Santner 3-0-16-1; McClenaghan 1-0-3-1; G. Elliott 4-0-12-3; I.S. Sodhi 3.4-0-21-3.
5wickets
for 22 runs
MUSTAFIZUR RAHMAN
India shootout is elementary for Australia’s WatsonMOHALI: It will be a virtual quar-terfinal when his team take on hosts India in a potential World Twenty20 humdinger on Sunday and retiring Australian all-round-er Shane Watson likes the simplic-ity of the situation.
A red-hot New Zealand have stormed into the last four with an unbeaten record, leaving India and Australia vying for the second semifinal slot from Group Two.
Both suffered their only defeats against the rampaging Kiwis and are level on points which means it would be a straight-forward situa-tion with the winners of Sunday’s match advancing to the business end of the tournament.
“I’ve played in games where the game is really based on the run rate and I’ve had some bad experi-ences with that,” Watson, who will quit international cricket after the
tournament, told reporters.“It’s good that it’s basically come
down to us winning. It’s a simple equation. We know we are going to have to be at our absolute best against India.”
Every do-or-die match brings its own tension and the 34-year-old has seen enough in his 14-year-old international career to learn the virtue of calmness.
“It certainly gets you up for the
game. Knockout games certainly you’ve got to be just as calm as you possibly can. I suppose that’s what I’ve learnt over my whole career,” Watson said.
“If you can stay calm and hold your nerve as long as you possi-bly can — normally there is a little bit of chaos in a knockout game — you’ve just got to try and not build it up any more than it is even though it’s a big game.”
Sunday’s contest could well be his last in an Australian shirt.
“From my personal perspec-tive to have the opportunity to play in what is hopefully not but what could be my last game...this is I suppose as big a dream as you could imagine, playing India at home,” Watson said.
“It’s certainly going to be a huge game and I’m going to be really ex-cited for it.” - Reuters
W O R L D T 2 0
SIMPLE EQUATION: Australian
all-rounder Shane Watson.
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Al Nahdha and FAP UTSC record big victories
MUSCAT: Al Nahdha recorded a massive 177-run victory over OCT Seeb in an Al Ansari Group of Com-panies-sponsored B Division match at the Municipality Ground I during the afternoon session on Friday.
Batting first, Al Nahdha put on
226 for eight in 20 overs. Ali Raza and Imran Nadir top scored with 68 and 73 runs respectively. Majid Hussain and Samir Othman were the most effective OCT Seeb bowl-ers claiming two wickets each. In reply, OCT Seeb were bowled out for
49 in 15 overs. Imran Nasir claimed four wickets each for Al Nahdha.
Brief scores: Al Nahdha 226 for 8 in 20 overs (Ali Raza 68, Imran Nasir 73; Majid Hussain 2/30) bt OCT Seeb 49 in 20 overs (Imran Nasir 4/10). Points: Al Nahdha – 3, OCT Seeb – 0.
Huwaei beatenIn a Raha Poly Products-sponsored C Division match, FAP UTSC de-feated Huwaei by 116 runs at the Municipality Ground I during the morning session on Friday.
Batting first, FAP UTSC put
on 200 for five of 20 overs. Mo-hammed Razeek and Faleel T. top scored with 59 and 52 runs respec-tively. Lleweeyn Rao claimed two wickets. In reply, Huwaei were bundled out for 84 in 18.1 overs. Tanseem Zeeshan top scored with
32. Mohammed Shareef claimed four wickets for FAP UTSC.
Brief scores: FAP UTSC 200 for 5 in 20 overs (M. Razeek 59; Lleweeyn Rao 2/35) bt Huwaei 84 in 18.1 overs (M. Shareef 32; Mohammed Shareef 4/12). Points: Huwaei – 0, FAP UTSC – 3).
O M A N C R I C K E T
B DIVISION: Al Nahdha players pose for a group photo after their victory over OCT Seeb. – Supplied photo C DIVISION: FAP UTSC celebrate their victory over Huwaei. – Supplied photo
Sreejesh, Deepika win HI Player of the Year Awards
BENGALURU: Late Captain Shankar Laxman won the Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achieve-ment Award while goalkeeper P.R. Sreejesh and Deepika won the Dhruv Batra Player of the Year Award for Men and Women re-spectively at the Hockey India (HI) Annual Awards here on Saturday.
“It’s a great honour for me to be chosen as the Player of the Year. I dedicate this award to all my coach-es, family members and friends who have encouraged me and pushed me to give my best to hockey. I hope this award will encourage young-sters to play the national game in right earnest,” said Sreejesh.
The first set of awards mark-ing important milestones in the careers of players began the pro-ceedings. The Milestone Awards were presented to Dharamvir Singh, Kothajit Singh, Birendra Lakra and Sushila Chanu for mak-
ing 100 appearances for India and were presented with a cheque of 50,000 Indian rupees.
Gurbaj Singh and V.R. Raghu-nath were awarded for turning out in India colours 200 times and were presented with a cheque of 100,000 rupees.
The second set of awards were given in recognition of individual achievements. The winners of the Individual Achievement Award for goal on debut were Devindar Walmiki, Harjeet Singh, Nilam Xess, Mohammad Umar, Gagan-preet Singh and Preeti Dubey.
Raghuprasad R.V. was also fe-licitated for making his 100th appearance as an umpire inter-nationally at the 2015 Hockey World League (HWL) semifinal in Belgium. The winners of the Individual Achievement Award received a cash prize of 100,000 rupees each.
To celebrate the historic occa-sion of the Indian women’s team qualifying for the 2016 Rio Olym-pics after a gap of 36 years since the Moscow Games, the entire team and the support staff were felicitated and were given a cash reward of 100,000 rupees each.
Members of the youth men’s team and the support staff that won the Junior Asia Cup were also awarded with 100,000 ru-pees each. Vikas Dahiya, who was awarded goalkeeper of the tourna-ment, and Harmanpreet Singh, for being awarded the highest scorer of the tournament, earned a cash prize of 100,000 rupees each.
Then the senior Indian men’s team collected their award for win-ning the bronze at the HWL Final in Raipur in December 2015. Sree-jeesh, who played a crucial role under the bar, was also awarded for receiving the Fans’ Choice Award
during the same tournament. Out-standing individual performances in 2015 were also recognised.
The winners of the 11 Annual Awards were: President’s Award for Outstanding Achievement to Madhya Pradesh Hockey Acad-emy, Jaman Lal Sharma Award for Invaluable Contribution to Baldev Singh, Baljit Singh Goalkeeper of the Year Award to Savita, Pargat Singh Defender of the Year Award to Kothajit Singh, Ajit Pal Singh Midfielder of the Year Award to Ritu Rani, Dhanraj Pillay Forward of the Year Award to Rani. Each of these individual awards carried a cash prize of 500,000 rupees.
The Asunta Lakra Upcoming Player of the Year Award (Wom-en Under-21) was presented to Preeti Dubey and the Jugraj Sin-gh Upcoming Player of the Year Award (Men U-21) was presented to Harjeet Singh. Each received 1,000,000 rupees.
The ceremony ended with the presentation of the eagerly await-ed Player of the Year Awards for Men and Women and the Lifetime Achievement Award.
Sreejesh and Deepika walked up to thunderous applause to col-lect the Dhruv Batra Player of the Year Award for Men and Women respectively. The winners re-ceived a glittering trophy and prize cheque of 2,500,000 rupees.
The final award of the day — Major Dhyan Chand Lifetime Achievement Award — carrying a cash prize of 3,000,000 rupees was awarded to late Captain Shankar Laxman in recognition of his ac-complishments and contribution to India’s national sport. - IANS
While thanking his
coaches, family and
friends, Sreejesh
said this award
will encourage
youngsters to play
the national game in
right earnest‘GREAT HONOUR’: P.R. Sreejesh
Kamworor wins gold as Kenyans sweep upCARDIFF: Kenya’s Geoffrey Kamworor recovered from falling flat on his face at the start to retain his world half-marathon title in rainswept Cardiff on Saturday.
Kamworor and fellow Kenyan Bedan Karoki Muchiri were shoul-der to shoulder approaching the final mile before Kamworor forged ahead through horizontal rain and gusting winds for victory.
Mo Farah gave the sodden home fans something to cheer on a dismal Easter weekend as the Briton kept plenty in the tank to produce a late dash and take the bronze medal.
Kenya’s women completed a
second successive clean sweep of the podium with Peres Jechirchir kicking away from pre-race favour-ite Cynthia Limo near the finish to take the title. Mary Wacera Ngugi was third.
Kamworor’s race began farci-cally as he slipped over on the start line and was almost buried under a stampede of athletes before climb-ing back to his feet and carrying on.
He was quickly up with the lead-ers though and while the world record of 58:23 minutes was ul-timately beyond him in the atro-cious conditions his winning time of 59:10 was impressive. - Reuters
H A L F - M A R A T H O N
WWW.TIMESOFOMAN.COM
HealthSECTIONC L I F E STY L E S U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
T E E T HDespite constant improvements
in dental care, millions of peo-ple suffer tooth loss every year
mostly due to gum diseases or an in-jury. The most obvious effect of miss-ing teeth is aesthetic. But that is prob-ably the least of all effects, it’s not just about unsightly gaps; loss of tooth can affect function, health, and facial aes-thetics. Teeth make hundreds of fleet-ing contacts with each other throughout the day. These small stresses are trans-mitted through the periodontal liga-ment that hold each tooth in its socket, prompting the bone to remodel and re-build continually.
When a tooth is lost, the lack of stimulation causes loss of bone. Gum tissue also gradually recedes around the area of tooth loss. Over a period of time, this will impact the ability to chew and to speak. The more, the number of teeth missing in action, the more function is lost.
Missing teeth can lead to drifting of neighbouring teeth, whereby the ad-jacent teeth lean over into the empty space where the teeth have been lost. Also it can lead to shifting of opposing
teeth as they drift down into the open space (supra-erupt).
Our teeth have a constant tendency to move both towards the front of our mouths and towards the opposing jaw, unless they are stopped by something in their way, usually the adjacent or opposing teeth. Loss of teeth allows this to proceed.
As teeth drift, they create discrepan-cies in the height and contours of the gum tissue that make the adjacent teeth prone to periodontal disease and/or dental decay from accumulation of food and plaque and difficulty in cleaning these areas.
Therefore it is very important to re-store the missing spaces by any of the following methods:
Removable options — Removable tooth replacement include plastic “flip-pers” (simple, temporary in nature and relatively inexpensive dentures) or the precision made metal based partial dentures, which are more expensive. Both can replace individual or groups of teeth. Only problem with them is that they may cause periodontal (gum) disease and hasten the loss of bone and
teeth through pressure transmitted through the gums upon which they rest.
Fixed bridges — They are non-removable prostheses which are at-tached to the natural teeth. They act by joining other teeth together with a false tooth or teeth between them thereby “bridging” the gap. They are the most commonly selected option. They may last for 15 years or more be-fore requiring any replacement.
The limitation of this form of treat-ment has to do with the irreversible preparation of the adjacent teeth for support. They require lot of mainte-nance. If not well maintained, the ad-joining teeth can act as reservoirs for bacteria and can decay.
ImplantsA dental implant is an artificial root made of titanium metal. It is inserted into the jawbone to replace the root of the natural tooth and an artificial tooth is attached to this titanium root. Im-plants provide a very strong foundation.
There are many advantages to dental implants, including:
They look and feel like your own
teeth. And because they are designed to fuse with bone, they become per-manent. Dental implants allow you to speak without the worry that the artificial teeth might fall or slip. Im-plants eliminate the discomfort of removable dentures. Since the foun-dations of implants are strong they function like your own teeth, allowing you to eat your favourite foods with confidence and without pain. Nearby teeth are not touched to support the implant, improving long-term oral health. They are easy to floss and clean, improving oral hygiene.
Implants are very durable and with good care, many implants last a lifetime. Dental implants eliminate the embarrass-ing inconvenience of removing dentures, as well as the need for messy adhesives to keep them in place. [email protected]
Dr Richa Raj is a practising dental surgeon
at Pearly White Dental Centre, Al Khuwair.
For any queries
call at +968 9705 2624
or mail at [email protected]
MISSING IN
ACTIONStory Dr Richa Raj
FIND-IT-ALLC6 S U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
Dhuhr 12.17pmAsr 3.44pmMaghrib 6.26pmIsha 7.36pm Fajr (Tomorrow) 4.48am
PRAYER TIMINGS
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EMBASSIES IN OMAN
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PHARMACIES
Round the clock
Al Hashar Pharmacy, Ruwi 24783334
Apollo Medical Centre,
Hamriya 24782666
Muscat Pharmacy, Ruwi 24702542
Salalah 23291635;
Atlas Pharmacy, Ghubra 24503585
Muscat Region
Apollo, Al Hamriya 24787766
Muscat, A Seeb Market 24421691
Muscat, Al Khuwair 24485740
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Muscat, Al Nahdha Road,
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HOSPITALS
Al Amal Medical & Health Care
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Ruwi 24811743/
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Sohar 2683006
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Hamriya 24787766, 24787780
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LISTINGS
LONG DISTANCE BUS TIMINGS (OMAN NATIONAL TRANSPORT COMPANY SAOC) *SUBJECT TO CHANGE
FROM MUSCAT (RUWI)
Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days
QURIYAT - SUR - JAALAN (ROUTE 36)
15:00 Quriyat 16:30 Daily
15:00 Sur 18:00 Daily
15:00 Jaalan 19:30 Daily
TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)
06:30 Sohar 08:50 Daily
06:30 Buraimi 11:00 Daily
08:00 Buraimi 14:30 Daily via Ibri
13:00 Sohar 15:45 Daily
13:00 Buraimi 17:40 Daily
16.00 Sohar 18.35 Daily
16.00 Buraimi 20:20 Daily
TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)
17:30 Sinaw 20:50 Daily
TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)
14:30 Nizwa 16:50 Daily
14:30 Yanqul 19:30 Daily
TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)
08:00 Nizwa 10:20 Daily
08:00 Al Araqi 12:30 Daily
TO SUR (ROUTE 55)
07:30 Sur 12:00 Daily
14:30 Sur 18:45 Daily
TO FAHUD - YIBAL (ROUTE 62)
06:30 Fahud 10:30 Daily
06:30 Yibal 11:15 Daily
TO MARMUL-SALALAH (ROUTE 100)
07:00 Salalah 20:00 Daily
10:00 Marmul 20:30 Daily
10:00 Salalah 23:30 Daily
19:00 Salalah 07:40 Daily
TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)
06:00 Marmul 16:50 Daily
SALALAH TO DUBAI (ROUTE 102)
15:00 Dubai 07:00 Daily
TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)
06:00 Sohar 08:30 Daily
06:00 Dubai 11:30 Daily
13:00 Sohar 15:30 Wed,Thur
13:00 Dubai 18:30 Wed,Thur
15:00 Sohar 17:35 Daily
15:00 Dubai 20:55 Daily
TO DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH & SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)
07:00 Fujairah 11.45 Daily
07:00 Sharjah 13.30 Daily
07:00 Dubai 14.00 Daily
TO MUSCAT (RUWI)
Dept Destination Arrival Operatingtime time days
FROM JAALAN-SUR-QURIYAT (ROUTE 36)
05:30 Sur 06:45 Daily
05:30 Quriyat 08:30 Daily
05:30 Ruwi 10:00 Daily
TO AL BURAIMI (ROUTE 41)
07:00 Sohar 08:55 Daily
07:00 Ruwi 11:40 Daily
13:30 Ruwi 20:20 Daily via Ibri
13:00 Sohar 14:55 Daily
13:00 Ruwi 17:40 Daily
13:00 Sohar 19:20 Daily
17:00 Ruwi 22:15 Daily
TO SINAW (ROUTE 52)
07:00 Ruwi 10:25 Daily
TO YANQUL (ROUTE 54)
06:00 Nizwa 08:40 Daily
06:00 Ruwi 11:00 Daily
TO IBRI (ARAQI) (ROUTE 54)
15:40 Nizwa 17:55 Daily
15:40 Ruwi 20:20 Daily
TO SUR (ROUTE 55)
06:00 Ruwi 10:45 Daily
14:30 Ruwi 19:00 Daily
TO YIBAL - FAHUD (ROUTE 62)
12:30 Fahud 13:15 Daily
12:30 Ruwi 17:30 Daily
TO SALALAH -MARMUL (ROUTE 100)
07:00 Ruwi 19:50 Daily
10:00 Marmul 13:15 Daily
10:00 Ruwi 22:30 Daily
19:00 Ruwi 07:30 Daily
TO MARMUL (ROUTE 101)
06:00 Marmul 16:30 Daily
DUBAI TO SALALAH (ROUTE 102)
15:00 Salalah 07:00 Daily
TO DUBAI (ROUTE 201)
07:30 Sohar 10:50 Daily
07:30 Ruwi 13:40 Daily
13:00 Sohar 16:15 Thur-Fri
13:00 Ruwi 19:10 Thur-Fri
15:30 Sohar 18:45 Daily
15:30 Ruwi 21:35 Daily
FROM DUBAI VIA FUJIRAH/SHARJAH (ROUTE 204)
16:00 Sharjah 16:30 Daily
16.00 Fujairah 18.15 Daily
16.00 Ruwi 23.00 Daily
CITY CINEMAContact (10 am to 6PM) 24567664 | 68 www.citycinemaoman.netfacebook.com/citycinemaoman
SHATTIBatman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice – 3D (Action, Adventure, Fantasy) PG12Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams2:30, 5:30, 8:30, 9:00 & 11:30PMBatman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice – 2D (Action, Adventure, Fantasy) PG126:30PMThe Invitation (Horror | Thriller) 15+Cast: Michiel Huisman, Logan Marshall-Green11:55PMMy Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (Comedy) 15+Cast: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett7:00PMKung Fu Panda 3 – 3D (Animation) PG2:45 & 5:00PMThe Wave (Action | Drama | Thriller) PG12Cast: Kristoffer Joner, Thomas Bo Larsen3:00PMSolace (Crime | Drama | Mystery) 12+Cast: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Colin Farrell4:30 & 11:30PM Triple 9 (Action | Crime | Drama) 15+Cast: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor9:15PM
MUSCAT GRAND MALLBatman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice – 3D (PG12) Action, Adventure, FantasyCast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams12:00, 2:50, 5:45, 8:45, 11:45 PMGold Class – 2:30, 5:20, 8:15, 11:15 PMRocky Handsom – 2D (12+) Action | ThrillerCast: John Abraham, Shruti Haasan9:00 PMKung Fu Panda 3 – 3D (PG) Animation Voice Overs: Jack Black, Dustin Hoffman1:00, 5:00, 7:00 PMZootropolis – 3D (PG12) Animation | Action| 3:00 PMTriple 9 – 2D (15+) Action | Crime | Drama
Cast: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor11:30 PM
PANORAMA MALLBatman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice-3D (Action, Adventure) (PG12)Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams2:45, 6:00, 8:45, 11:30 PMBatman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice-3D (Action, Adventure)(PG12)-VIP LOUNGECast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams3:15, 6:00, 8:45, 11:30 PMBatman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (Action, Adventure) (MX4D) (PG12)Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams3:00, 5:45, 8:30, 11:15 PMMy Big Greek Wedding 2-2D (15+)Cast: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett5:45 PMRocky Handsome -2D (Action, Thriller)(12+)Cast: John Abraham, Shruti Haasan8:45 PMLondon Has Fallen-2D (Action, Crime) (PG12)Cast: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman4:45, 9:45, 11:45 PMTriple 9-2D (Action, Crime)(15+)Cast: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor
3:45, 11:15 PMKung Fu Panda 3-3D (Animation) (PG)Voice Overs: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston2:45, 6:45 PMSolace-2D (Crime, Drama) (12+)Cast: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Colin Farrell7:30 PM
AZAIBA Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (2D) (Action |Adventure | Fantasy) (PG12) Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams6:00 PMBatman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice (3D) (Action |Adventure | Fantasy) (PG12) Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams3:00, 8:45, 11:45 PMTriple 9 (2D) (Action |Crime | Drama) (15+) Cast: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor3:45 PMKung Fu Panda 3 (2D) (Animation) (PG) Voice Overs: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston5:00 PMKung Fu Panda 3 (3D) (Animation) (PG) Voice Overs: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston3:00, 6:45 PMRocky Handsome (2D) (Hindi) (Action) (TBC)
Cast: JohnAbraham, Nishikant Kamat2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:15, 11:30 PMKapoor and Sons (2D) (Drama) (PG12) Cast: Alia Bhatt, Siddhart Malhotra8:45, 11:00 PMMaheshinte Prathikaaram (2D) (Mal) (Drama | Comedy) (PG12) Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Soubin Shahir,6:30, 8:45 PM
RUWIScreen 1Rocky Handsome (Action/ Thriller) –12+Cast: John Abraham, Shruti Haasan3:30, 9:30 PMKapoor & Sons (Drama / Family) –PG12Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt6:30 PMScreen 2Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Action/Adventure) –PG12Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams3:45, 6:45, 9:45 PMScreen 3Kapoor & Sons (Drama / Family) –PG12Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt3:45, 9:45 PM
Kung Fu Panda 3 (2D) (Animation) –PGVoice Overs: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston6.45 PM
SURBatman Vs Superman 3D ( Action | Adventure | Fantasy ) ( PG12) 3:30, 6:00, 8:45, 11:45 PMThe Invitation ( Horror | Thriller ) ( 15+ ) Cast : Michiel Huisman, John Carroll Lynch8:30 PMKung Fu Panda 3 (3D) ( Action ) (PG) Voice Overs: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston3:45, 6:30 PMRocky Handsome (Drama) (TBC) Cast: John Abranam, Shruti Haasan10:30 PM
SOHARBatman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice– 3D (Action, Adventure, Fantasy) (PG12)Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams2:30, 5:30, 8:30, 11:30PMBatman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice– 2D (Action, Adventure, Fantasy) (PG12)Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams6:30PMSolace – 2D (Crime | Drama | Mystery) (12+)Cast: Jeffrey Dean Morgan, Xander Berkeley, Colin Farrell2:45PMKung Fu Panda 3 – 3D (Animation | Action| Adventure) (PG)Voice Overs: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston2:30, 4:30PMKung Fu Panda 3 – 2D (Animation) (PG)Voice Overs: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston7:30PMThe Invitation– 2D (Horror, Thriller) (15+)Cast: Michael Huisman, Logan Marshall-Green, John Carroll Lynch11:45PMEvery Secret Thing -2D (Crime, Drama, Mystery) (PG12)Cast: Diane Lane, Elizabeth Banks, Dakota Fanning3:00, 11:45PMMy Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 – 2D (Comedy) (15+)Cast: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Michael Constantine6:30PMRocky Handsome – 2D (Action, Thriller) Cast: John Abraham, Shruti Haasan, Nishikant Kamat
8:30, 11:30PMLondon Has Fallen – 2D (Action| Crime | Thriller) (PG12)Cast: Gerard Butler, Morgan Freeman4:45PMMaheshinte Prathikaaram– 2D (Comedy / Drama) (PG12)Cast: Fahadh Faasil, Soubin Shahir, Aparna9:15PM
BURAIMIKung Fu Panda 3 (Animation |Action|) (PG) Voice Overs: Jack Black, Bryan Cranston5.15, 7.15PMEvery Secret Thing (Crime | Drama) (TBA) Cast: Diane lane,Elizabeath Banks4.30, 9.45PMRocky Handsome (Action/Thriller) Cast: John Abraham, Nishikant Kamat.7.30, 11.30PMThe Invitation (Horror/Thriller) (15+) Cast: Michiel Huisman, John Carroll Lynch9.00, 11.30PMBatman VS Superman 3D (Action) PG 12 4.45, 6.15, 9.00, 11.45PM
SALALAHBatman Vs Superman (3D) (PG12) (Action) Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams2:45, 5:35, 8:30, 11:30PMBatman Vs Superman (2D) (PG12) (Action) Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams1:05PMKung Fu Panda 3 (3D) (PG) (Animation) 1:00, 2:50, 4:45PMEvery Secret Thing (2D) (12+) (Crime)Cast: Diane Lane, Dakota Fanning1:00, 3:55PMThe Invitation (2D) (15+) (Horror | Thriller)Cast: Michiel Huisman, Logan Marshall- 10:00PMMy Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 (2D) (15+) Cast: Nia Vardalos, John Corbet (Comedy) 5:45PMTriple 9 (2D) (15+) (Action | Crime | Drama)Cast: Casey Affleck, Chiwetel Ejiofor6:35, 11:55PMRocky Handsome (2D) (12+) (Action)Cast: John Abraham, Shruti Haasan8:45, 11:15PMMaheshinte Prathikaaram (2D) (PG12) (Mal) (Comedy / Drama)7:45PM
CINEMA SCHEDULE CHILDREN BELOW THE AGE OF 3 YEARS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE CINEMA | BOX-OFFICE COUNTER OPENS 30-MINUTES PRIOR TO THE SCREENING OF THE FIRST SHOW
@ MGM @ AZAIBA
Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice– 3D (Action, Adventure, Fantasy) (PG12)Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams12:00, 2:50, 5:45, 8:45, 11:45 PMGold Class – 2:30, 5:20, 8:15, 11:15 PM
Rocky Handsome (Action/ Thriller) –12+Cast: John Abraham, Shruti Haasan, Nishikant Kamat2:45, 5:15, 7:45, 10:15, 11:30 PM
BAHJA CINEMAFilm information 24540856 / Advance Booking
24540855
Website: www.albahjacinemaoman.com
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (Action / Adventure / Fantasy)Cast: Ben Affleck, Henry Cavill, Amy Adams12.45, 3.30, 4.30, 6.15, 7.15, 9.00 & 11.45 PM CP No: 375 (PG12
The Invitation (Horror / Thriller)Cast: Logan Marshall-Green, Emayatzy Corinealdi, Michiel Huisman2.30, 10.00 & 11.45 PM CP No: 376 (15+)
The Wave (Action / Drama / Thriller)Cast: Kristoffer Joner, Thomas Bo Larsen, Ane Dahl Torp12.30 PM CP No: 371 (PG12)
STAR CINEMAFilm information 24791641 / 24786776
Website: www.isurf.co.om
Maheshinte Prathikaram (Mal) (Comedy) Cast: Fahad Faasil, Anusree, Soubin Shahir, Aparna Balamurali 3-30 & 9-30 pm Cinema Main\ 6:30 PM Cinema-2 Action Hero Biju (Mal) (Act\ Comedy) Cast: Nivin Pauly & Anu Emmanuel 3:30 & 9:30 PM Cinema -2\ 6:30 PM Cinema MainRocky Handsome (Hindi) (Act) Cast: John Abraham, Shruti Haasan, Nishikant Kamath 3:45, 6:45 & 9:45 PM Cinema-3Kapoor & Sons (Hindi) (Drama\Rom) Cast: Sidharth Malhotra, Alia Bhatt & Rishi Kapoor 6:45 PM Cinema -4 Kadhalum Kadhandhu Pogum (Tamil) (Com) Cast: Vijay Sethupathi & Modonna Sebastion 3:45 & 9:45 PM Cinema-4 Next Change: Thozha (Tamil); Oopri (Telugu); Vettah (Mal)
Programmes are subject to change
@ PANORAMA
My Big Greek Wedding 2-2D (15+)Cast: Nia Vardalos, John Corbett, Michael Constantine5:45 PM
WITH LOVE
Send us a colour photograph of the child (below 16 years) whose birthday you are celebrating, along with his/her full name, date of birth, address, telephone number and parents’/your name to Times of Oman, With Love, PO Box 770, PC 112, Ruwi or through e-mail to [email protected]
WITH LOVE
KABERI BISWAS March 27, 2015
SWEEDAL FERNANDESMarch 27, 2006
NAYANITA NITHINMarch 27, 2010
REUBEN SAMUEL AMBA March 27, 2011
ALISHA March 27, 2015
WEATHER
320
Maximum
210
Minimum
TEMPERATURE 75-35%RELATIVE HUMIDITY
LIFESTYLEC7S U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
Rania Gamal, a Dubai-based fitness guru, model, ac-tress, and TV presenter
gives five simple tips for women to stay fit that spells as ‘women’:
Wake Up 3 (+ Travel Time) Hours Before Your Work Timing If there is one common thing about CEO and successful people, they all wake up early. If your of-fice timing is 9am, don’t wake up by 8am and rush to the shower as whatever you do, you’ll still be late for work and you wouldn’t have a healthy breakfast, not unless, your office is just 2 blocks away or in the next room and it can re-sult to a bad day. Furthermore, it is important to give a grace period of 3 hours before your office tim-ing, aside from the travel time that you have, meaning if your travel time is 1 hour, you need 4 hours in advance. Why? Because you need 1 hour to exercise so you have a stronger body, 30 minutes to pre-pare a healthy breakfast and not those easy-to-cook frozen, ready-to-fry and any food with preserva-tives, 30 minutes to eat, 30 min-utes to shower and get dress and 30 minutes to read or watch some news, it is very important to do all of these — exercise, eat healthy, read and enrich your knowledge every morning. Remember your work is not your life, it is just a part of it, but your body and mind is all part of your existence.
Open Your Eyes to the Truth Sometimes you should know how to classify truth from advertising, just because you heard that a cer-tain slimming tablet have made your friend slim then it doesn’t
mean it could be effective for you, first we have different blood and body type so something that works for others may not work for you and vice versa, also just because you see the package of a tantalising-looking juice drink claims that there is no added sug-ar doesn’t mean it has no sugar, or just because it is under the diet section doesn’t mean it will be healthy for you. I believe in natu-ral things such as fruits and veg-etables and the right amount of protein and carbohydrates rather than buying ‘dietary’ products in the supermarket except from the honest brands that I have studied and I really trust.
Mind Your Own Business Don’t be envious with Sarah if she has a slimmer body, don’t get jealous with Wafa if she has a flat stomach. You don’t have to focus on what other’s have and what are they doing, except focus on how would you improve yourself and how would you reach that goal of being fit and healthy.
Everything Else Matters When it comes to losing weight and being fit, everything matters, you cannot go to gym regularly and eat buffet everyday or grab fast food after a sweat of just 30 minutes on the treadmill. You also cannot skip lunch and stay at couch every night or every morn-ing. Fitness is the right amount of balance of everything, healthy eating and regular exercise, and the good news is you don’t need to force yourself to do rigorous exercise or not eat carbohydrates on your first few weeks, you can start by little dietary programmes and try to challenge yourself for a
harder exercise and lesser carbo-hydrates gradually as it is much more effective that way.
Never Stop Never ever stop, that is the main and most important thing that you should learn when you are in the journey of physical fitness. You have to be strong emotionally inside to be able to fight the battles and challenges that you have out-side. You may think it is a cliché but it is really true that the begin-ning is the hardest, but it doesn’t matter, what matters is that you push yourself, you fight your de-mons inside and you show your-
self the you are stronger each day than yourself yesterday — and you keep on going. –[email protected]
Rania Gamal started modelling when she was 17-years old while living in Germany and was the face of L’Oreal products and the cover of different international magazines. Rania loves travel-ling the world and she can speak four languages fluently including Arabic, English, Danish and ba-sic French. Rania is also a fitness, lifestyle, and health aficionado, teaching women not only to eat healthy but also about being inde-pendent and being empowered.
IT’S TIME TO GET FIT
Vitamin C rich diet may slow down cataracts
Eating a diet rich in vitamin C may slow the progression of cataract — a condi-tion that may lead to blindness, reveals a study, adding that environmental factors and diet also influence cataract more than genetic factors. The findings showed that those participants who had a higher intake of vitamin C were associated with a 33 per
cent risk reduction of cataract progression and had “clearer” lenses 10 years after the study than those who had consumed less vitamin C as part of their diet. “The findings of this study could have significant impact, particularly for the ageing popu-lation globally, by suggesting that simple dietary changes such as increased intake of fruit and vegetables as part of a healthier diet could help protect them from cataracts,” said lead study au-thor Chris Hammond from the Kings College London. “While we cannot avoid getting older, diabetes and smoking are also risk factors for this type of cataract, and so a healthy balanced diet and lifestyle generally should reduce the risk of needing a cata-ract operation,” Hammond added. Cataract is a common condi-tion in which the lens of the eye becomes cloudy as a result of ox-idation over time. It is thought that increased intake of vitamin C has a protective effect on cataract progression by increasing the vitamin C available in the eye fluid.
Blood test to predict your risk of developing TBAn international team of researchers has identified biologi-cal markers in the blood that can help doctors predict who is at high risk of developing active tuberculosis (TB). One-third of the world’s population is thought to be infected with Mycobac-terium tuberculosis (Mtb), the bacterium that causes tubercu-losis, but just a small fraction ever develops symptomatic illness. If validated through additional clinical trials, a test based on these blood biomarkers that the researchers have now identified would allow doctors to target therapies to at-risk people, thus preventing them from getting sick. -IANS
B R I E F S
H E A L T H N O T E
Iron deficiency, according to the World Health Organisation, is the number-one nutrition disorder in the world. The most common symptoms of iron de-ficiency are fatigue, weakness, headaches, and irritability.
Iron deficiency is more com-
mon among women (especially those of childbearing age), ath-letes, vegetarians, and seniors. Before seeking treatment you should be properly diagnosed by your healthcare professional for an iron deficiency. However, once diagnosed, there are ways to help
treat and reduce your deficiency.Increasing iron intake can be
as easy as making adjustments to your diet. There are several foods that contain a large amount of iron and can help restore the body’s iron level. Some of these foods are:
and soy beans
An iron-friendly diet should, in addition, consist of foods high in vitamin C, such as orange juice and tomatoes.
While maintaining a well-bal-anced diet can help supply the body with iron, sometimes it isn’t enough. In cases such as these, an iron supplement is usually rec-ommended. However, up to 47 per cent of people who take iron
supplements experience one or more side effects, such as nausea or constipation. In some cases, it is bad enough to make them stop their iron treatment altogether.
Often times, people are unaware that there are different forms of iron that may work better for their body’s individual needs. Someone who tolerates iron supplements well might require a different form of iron than someone who often experiences side effects from their oral iron therapy. For those with a sensitive system, there are alterna-tive supplements that provide the body with iron while minimising common intestinal side effects such as nausea or constipation. These forms of iron are most closely compared to those found in red meat and spinach, which are more naturally absorbed into the body to minimise stomach-related side effects. -NewsUSA
Fatigue? Weakness? Headache? It Could Be Iron Deficiency
LIFESTYLEC8 S U N DAY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
Best Raw FoodsHere are some of the raw foods that you should add
to your diet
Leafy greens Coconut
Seeds
Sprouts
Blueberries
Benefits of Raw Food Diet
W W W.T I M E S O F O M A N . C O MSECTION
CONNECT H E D A I LY G U I D E
D
D4 VACANCY CARGO D7
S U N D AY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
RENT D2
FLATS FOR RENT R
S S L
R O F 24 702 666, Fa 24 70 666 E a a a a
*Classified Advertisement space booking with text, should be done till 12.00 noon for next day’s publication.
* Subject to space availability
WELL FURNISHED OFFICE SPACE & CAMP ACCOMODATION
AVAILABLE FOR RENT IN GHALA INDUSTRIAL AREA
Ideal for workers, staff members
Catering facility option available
&4WDs/Pick up’s/Heavy Vehicles
are available for sale on as is
where is basis.
The vehicles can be inspected at
our premises at Ghala.
Contact: 94057473/94369381
Situation VacancyA reputed construction and real estate
development company in Muscat, We
require the following:
- General Manager - Marketing Manager- Sales Manager - Site Engineer- Project Manager- Foreman- Procurement Manager
of experience.
*Tourist visa arranged
Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461
FOR RENT
D2 S U N D AY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
DAILY GUIDE
Rooms for rent in Al Khuwair near
Muscat Holiday Hotel. #95724975
3 Rooms, 2 Toilets Flat for Rent. 18
November Street. Near Mars Hyper-
market and The Chedi. Ghobrah -Good
for Commercial or Residential use.
OMR 295/- month. Call 94477222
Conditioned room with toilets in Al
Khuwair. #92620858 /92605500
2B/R with 3 toilets directly from
owner, near Dolphin Complex
Bausher. Contact 92158031
2 BHK fully furnished flat at Ruwi
MBD area. #93211557 / 24814853
Flat in Al Khuwair opp grand mall
4 room 3 toilet + hall kitchen in 3
floor 400. Contact 99420346
2 BR, 2 bath, a kitchen, a yard
, with AC, separate enterance,
AlKhuwair near ibis hotel. PDC. RO
250 .. Call 97056443
Readymade office space for rent
(240sm) in Bank Melli Iran Build-
ing, MBD area, Ruwi, opposite
Center point. Contact: 99011352
House for rent, 2 bedrooms, 1 toilet
& kitchen. Contact: 96968104
Staff & employees accommo-
dation new building 3 floor Al
Wadi Al Kabir - Muscat 15 rooms,
Kitchen & dining hall AC, Satellite
TV. Contact: 97166111 / 97252028
Flat of 3 BHK in Al Ghobra South
opposite Royal Hospital. RO 380/-.
Contact – 91776665
Luxury flat of 3 BHK in Al
Watayah. RO 500/-#91776665
Clean flat of 2 BHK in Al Khuwair
33. RO 330/- Contact – 91776665
2BHK available in Ghubra near
Al Maha Hotel and Mumtaz area
Ruwi. Contact: 99269751
1 BHK flat with 1split and 1 win-
dow AC, next to Indian School Ghu-
bra for rent at RO 270/-. Contact:
98867658 / between 4pm - 10pm
Villa at Azaiba 7 rooms with at-
tach bath on 18th November road.
Contact: 99224748 / 99332297
Amazing flat of 2 BHK in Remal
Building. RO 550/- #91776665
Shops / flats available in Honda
Road, Ruwi & Mabellah Indus-
trial area. Contact 24833972/
24833974/ 99367448
House for rent in Mawallah near
City Center, 2 bedroom, (2) toilets,
hall & kitchen. Contact : 96968104
Brand new deluxe flats located near
Seeb flyover or the right hand side
of the main road coming from the
Seeb palace roundabout, 2 bedrooms,
family hall, kitchen, 3 toilets, balcony
with split unit A/cs. #: 97755586
5 floor building for rent in Al Khu-
wair near Muscat Dunes hotel each
floor, 3 flats each flat with 2 BHK.
Contact : 93223324
3 BHK, 1BHK flats for rent new
building with A/C, behind Muscat
Bakery at Wadi Al Kabir. Contact :
92103604 / 99338133
3500 & 2700 sq mtrs industrial
land + accommodation & store for
sale in Wadi Kabir. #99792181
Villa in Al-Khuwair 33. Quality
Finishing. Consist 5 Bedrooms, 1
Living room, 3 Lounges, All with
A/C, Kitchen and storage . Contact:
90665135
2,200 sq mtr factory area & 800
sq mtr store with 8 accommoda-
tion rooms and 10 office cabins
available for rent in Barka indus-
trial area. Contact 91398381 / 80 /
78, email - [email protected]
Flats in Al Khuwair, Al Ghobrah,
Al Hail & Seeb. Contact: 92125648
/ 95250300 / 24182000
Villa in Seeb near the beach and
Dreams Resort. Contact: 92125648
/ 95250300
Flats in Wadi Kabeer, MBD, Dar-
sait, Hamriya & Sidab. Contact:
92125648 / 95250300/ 24182000
Villa in Al Khuwair. Contact:
92125648 / 95250300
Flat for rent in South AlGhubrah
3 rooms, hall and 3 toilets, kitchen
rent 450/-. Contact: 99335580
Flats, shops and basement in
MBD area and Honda road.
Contact: 92433127/96291778/
92589235/97293708
1 & 2 BHK Flat in Al.Khuwair.
Contact - 99792181
2 BHK flat in Ruwi.#99792181
Office Space Available in Al Khu-
wair & CBD.Contact – 99792181
2 Bedrooms, kitchen, toilet, car
park R.O 200/- & 1 bedroom,
kitchen, toilet R.O 130 in Al Khu-
wair. Contact: 95154331
2 BHK flats /office & shops avail-
able in a new building at Honda
road .Contact: 91165807
Water tank for rent Quantity 5000
Gallon with driver. #96449233
2 BHK flat in Ghobrah.#99792181
1BHK near medical Darsait R.O 180/-
Muttrah house. Contact : 95076261
Commercial land in Ghala 2500sqm
for rent #93506187 / 97684266
For rent flats and shops behind Al
jmlah in Al Amerat. #91231380
Room for rent available in a flat
for Executive bachelor at Azaiba,
behind Al Meera Hypermarket with
attached bath with cot & AC , rent
inclusive of Water & Electricity.
Contact 96404166 / 97433992
Flats for rent in Al Mabela (7) near
Industrial roundabout close to the
Al Wafa Mosque area 142 (m2)
2 rooms and a large hall, 1 Kitchen
and 3 toilets, for inquires please
contact : 94359353
Flats and Labor accommodation
for rent in South Al Mabela. Con-
tact : 95230355 / 95331177
2 BHK & 1 BHK Flats for rent
Muttrah near Oman house S/ AC.
Contact: 97007934 / 92629232
New flats for rent at Darsait near
to Ministry of Sports, Mumtaz area
the flats includes, 1 living room, 2
bedroom, kitchen, 3 toilets, every
rooms with split A/C high quality
finishing rent per flat is R.O 340/- .
Interested candidates please Con-
tact : 00968 92225523
2 & 3 BHK Flat in Al Khuwair. Con-
tact 99792181
Staff Accommodation for Rent in
Al hail. Contact 99792181
3000 Sqr mtrs Store in Misfah.
Contact 99792181
Open land + workshop + labour
camp in Ghala & Rusayl. #9979218
1
Flat, 1 bedroom, kitchen, toilet in
AL Khuwair family bachelors
R.O 150/-. Contact: 95154331
1 Bed room, sharing K& T, R.O 100,
2 bedrooms , sharing K& T R.O
200/- in AL Khuwair. #95154331
Flat for rent 2 BHK 2 split A/C, 2
toilets, Wadi Kabir near Kuwaiti
Masjid. #97007934 / 92609232
Two bedrooms flat in Al Ghobrah
near Oman Oil of 18 November Street.
OMR 330 Monthly. #99333479 or
95215360 or 97509955.
2 BR flats with 2Baths Kitchen
Al Amerat Aster Hospital .#99366142
2BHK split A/C 200/- Monthly
& 1BHK spilt A/C 150/- monthly
new building good location Barka
Market. Contact: 99342661
2 B/R Luxury Fully Furnished @
Al Khuwair 33 1 B/R Luxury Fully
Furnished @ Al Khuwair
5 B/R Fully Furnished villa @ Ma-
dinat Al Ilam 5 B/R Fully Furnished
villa @ Madinat Al Ilam. For Daily,
Weekly, monthly or Yearly contract.
Please Contact: Atlas Real Estate
& Rent a Car LLC 99249069 /
994617563/92888376 / 24834888E
mail: [email protected]
02 BHK residential flat opposite
to Al Nahdha hospital.
Contact: 99342733 /99795241
2 BHK Flat in Wataya. #99792181
Four bedroom two floors luxurious
and spacious residential villa in
Al Hail North, near to the sea and
Oman oil. Each room has its own
bathroom. It has splits A/C’s and
shaded car park. OMR 750 monthly.
Tel: 99333479 or 95215360 or
97509955
Warehouse at Wadikabir - total
area 3500 sqm - covered ware-
house (500sqm), office,
accommodation (1000sqm), open
area (2000sqm) please
contact: 99273774 - 99202278
Offices & flat in CBD, Ruwi. Contact
95345909 / 92820734
Flat with two rooms with window
A/C, with toilets & car parking way
No: 1670 north Al Hail near Dosteen
restaurant 1KM Inside. #99238334
2 BHK Apartment for rent near
MSQ area. Contact 92888063
3BHK in Qurum P.D.O high 350/-
Monthly. Contact: 99342661
Commercial flats of 3 & 2
BHK in Al Ghobra North 18 Nov
street RO.650/- & 450/- contact
91776665
2 BHK – modern & spacious flats
with split ac for rent in Qurum near
PDO gate no. 2. contact 94057023
2 BHK flats with split Ac available
for rent at Al Khuwair 33. contact
94057023
2 BHK fully furnished flat for rent
in Wadi Kabir.contact 92233322
Furnished office for rent No. 503
at Business Center – Al Khuwair.
Contact: 24488833
For rent and investment Land
industrial shops in Rusayl.
Contact: 99323957 / 95490842
1B/R apartment executive fully
furnished at AL Khuwair 33 & 5 B/R
villa unfurnished at Madinat
Al Ilam & 5 B/R villa furnished at
Madinat Al Ilam. Contact: Atlas Real
Estate & rent a car LLC -24834888/
99249069/92888376/94617563
Email: [email protected]
Luxury villa of 5 BHK in Al Khu-
wair 33 RO.650/- contact 91776665
600 M2 showroom or office in
Bousher in front of Dolphin complex.
RO.3.5 per m2. Contact 91776665
Brand new 4 BHK villa in Al Fai
compound Al Khoud. RO.475/-
Contact – 91776665
Villa of 3 BHK and sitting area in
Al Ghobra North. RO.525/-
Contact – 91776665
Store with cold store in Wadi
kabir. Contact: 99374977
Luxury and brand new semi
furnished 2 BHK flat in Remal-
bowsher. RO.550/- #91776665
Spacious 1 BHK flat in Al Wattaya
with all split A/C’s and parking.
RO.300/-Contact – 91776665
DAILY GUIDES U N D AY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6 D3
FOR RENT
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
FOR SALE
Dental chair and mobile dental X
Ray for sale. Contact: 92737149
Shop for sale at Ruwi center. Con-
tact: 98787853
Approx. 300 SQM Super market
available for sale. Complete with
furniture & fixtures, security cam-
era and internet connection. With
2 entrances. #for appointment /
viewing at – 93518390 / 99082534
Restaurant for sale (Indian,
chinese, Arabic food ). Contact :
91181765 / 95411354
600 sq mtrs residential land in
Maabela Phase 4 Block 3 OMR 65
Thousand.#99333479 or 95215360
Warehouse at Ghala Industrial
area for rent with 16 acs & heavy
duty shelves/ warehouse is in
2340 sqm land. #92400008
OFFICES FOR RENT AT AZAIBA
Prime location on service road (previously
occupied by A'Saffa Foods) near Al Turky
and Mazda showroom.
- 2 BHK flat available directly from the
owner, at Azaiba.
Contact: 99229263, 93221054, 95215289
FOR RENTStore space in Al
Wattayah.
Contact 99382489 / 99263443
600 sq mtrs residential land in
Maabela Phase 4 Block 4 OMR
65 Thousand. Tel: 99333479 or
95215360 or 97509955
Approx. 300 sqm, supermarket
available for sale. complete with
furniture & fixtures, security Cam-
era & internet connection with
2 entrances.# for appointment/
viewing at 93518390 / 99082534.
Excavators 3 nos (Hitachi
240/350, 2008/2013 model),
Tipper 1 no. (Astra 2011 model).
All are in good condition, sell on
the maximum offer.#98999503 /
99782930 / 98981112
Zanzibari coffee shop for rent or
sale in Barka Souq road, at Prime
location. Contact: 99814411
2 storey villa, 5 rooms with at-
tached bath,1 hall & kitchen at
Madinat Sultan Qaboos under
finishing. Contact 99778773
Good conditioned 5 ton forklift for
sale. #99885638 / 94052713
Wholesale Iranian best carpets
quality TOP per sqm 17.5 RO quality
normal per sqm 13.5 RO for Masjid
per sqm 13.5RO in Oman and all
Gulf country’s delivery in Muscat
and Iranian Souvenirs paintings
and gifts. #91213269 / 99234905
Single colorful Bed and Sofa
for Sale at Al Khuwair.CON-
TACT 92881849 /What`s up No
97290565
ACC. AVAILABLE
Single room B/K sharing Mumtaz
area. Contact : 95212017
Big room with attach bathroom
and hall near ISM. Contact:
99419830
Small old house for rent in Al
Ghoubra. Contact : 97165972
Room available for Executive
bachelor at Al Hail. #96234708
Furnished apartment for rent, two
rooms, majlis, hall, kitchen. Near
Carrefour al-mawalah. Contact
99336776
Room with attached bathroom for
a family in Wadi Kabir. #97167857
Room with kitchen available at
Ruwi.# 91214897 / 98049288
Room for rent with furniture.
Al Bustan village.#93687466
Furnished room attached bath for
Indian bachelor, Al-Falaj Ruwi &
lady Wadi Kabir near Mars hyper-
market. #96202458/96761960
Furnish bedroom with attach
bathroom for executive bachelor.
Contact: 97704794
Room with attached bathroom and
sharing kitchen available for
Executive bachelor or small family
at wadikabir Contact 93049849
Room available in Mumtaz area
1 room, 1 Bathroom, Kitchen & 1
room, common bathroom. Interest-
ed please c#92680041 Mr. Altaf
BUYING
Buying cars for cash. CONTACT
90202090
Bobcat available for rent. CONTACT
97623299
TRANSPORTATION
Picking and dropping any time.
Contact: 97403088
Office and private transport avail-
able in Muscat area.#94297820
Transportation. #91703829
Ruwi, Muttrah, Al Khuwair,
Muscat, Qurum, seek transporta-
tion. Contact: 91132238
Transportation. Contact 99508282
Transportation. contact 92015894
Transportation available Ruwi to
Al Khuwair, Ghubra & Azaiba.
Contact: 91103909
GOOD NEWS
GOOD NEWS
Ayurvedic treatment for joint
pain, backache, paralysis, mas-
sage, steambath, obesity, spondy-
litis. Ideal Care Ayurvedic Clinic,
18 November Street, Azaiba.
Contact: 99639695 / 97397320
Ayurvedic treatment for backache,
paralysis, arthritis etc & mas-
sage, All Season (Vaidyaratnam).
Contact:24475280 / 95371664 /
92504980 www.siddhayur.com
DRIVING
FOR HIRE
FOR HIRE
Grader GD 705-5, Showel WA 430-
5, Roller BW 211D-40 JCB. Contact:
99292668
AVAILABLE
Party & Wedding equipment rentals.
Full line, from Tables, Linen & Skirt-
ing, Chairs & Chair covers, Cutlery,
Crockery, Glassware, Chafing Dishes,
Ice Sculptures, to Large Sound
Systems and spectacular lighting.
Call Andrea 9606 2222 for Catering
and Croyden 9623 5555 for Sound &
Light. ww.tunesoman.com,
E-mail: [email protected]
Flats available for rent 1 BHK & 2
BHK good condition with split AC
Al Khuwair near Muscat Holiday.
Contact: 94227178
1BHK at Al-Hamriya, B-2397,
Way-5935 near Muscat Pharmacy.
Contact: 99224748 / 99332297
1 BHK fully furnish for Rent short
term or long term in Alkhuwair.
Contact 99792181
2BHK Big Size Flat Behind Bank
Muscat, Wadi Kabir. Near ISWK.
97826454, 24815012.
Steel Scrap materials for immedi-
ate sale#99273774/ 99202278
Almost new beach/ garden lounge
chairs /bar stools/ counter. Photos
can be sent 95865457
400 sq mtrs Commercial/Residen-
tial land in Mabela Phase 5 Block 2.
OMR 165 Thousand. #99333479 or
95215360 or 97509955
A well running pharmacy for
sale at prime location. Contact-
99627621, 93240949
Space for printing press available
at wadikabir with or without
machinery. Contact 99328430
Shop for sale near Oman House,
Muttrah. Contact 99024362.
Urgent sale of steel scrap only
serious buyers kindly contact +968
96725423 for viewing the items.
HD Scaffoldings, Shuttering
Jacks, Wooden Planks, Shuttering
wood assorted, Tower hoist (lift),
Concrete Mixer, Bending Machine,
Steel Fabrication Machinery
(Searing/Cutting, lathe & Welding)
including tools for immediate sale:
Contact 99273774/ 99202278
FREE INFORMATION ABOUT ISLAM. If you would like to know
more about Islam, please call:
99425598, 99250777, 99353988,
99253818, 99341395, and
99379133. For ladies: 99415818,
99321360, 99730723
Orvisit:www.islamfact.com
Grader, roller, bobcat, JCB 3CX, JCB 4CX with breaker & water
tanker for rent. CONTACT 93218705
/ 24478450
DAILY GUIDED4 S U N D AY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION VACANT
SITUATION WANT-SIT.WANTED
SITUATION WANTEDSIT.WANTED
SITUATION WANT-SIT.WANTED
SITUATION WANTEDSIT. WANTED
Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
DRIVER
MEDICAL
SKILLED LABOUR
ADMIN
ADMIN
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
Required urgently a Legal Consultant/ Lawyer for reputed
law firm in Sohar, Muscat. Can-
didates should have 5-7 years
experience as a Legal Consultant/
Lawyer with good knowledge of
Computer & should be fluent in
English both written & spoken.
Email C V to shejaanil66@gmail.
com or Contact 99153620
between 8am to 1pm & 2pm to
5.30 pm on Sunday to Thursday
Indian male good experienced in
Accounts, ERP Tally 9 & Admin in
India & Oman, presently on visit
visa, looking for suitable placement.
Contact 94834687
DOMESTIC HELP
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
ACCOUNT. & FINANCE
Required Accounts Officer- en-
sure accurate processing of
revenue data into ERP systems
and invoicing module. Posting of
invoices to customer SAP portal
and delivery to customer offices
and interface with country man-
ager/ reporting to regional CEO.
Qualifications: BSc accounting.
Relevant experience & knowledge
on online accounting systems
especially the customer
SAP system. Submit CV to:
Accountant with gulf experience
in construction field preferred with
Oman driving license. Interested
candidates send CV to:
Email: [email protected]
Gsm: 95892831/95197615
Wanted house boy for an Indian
doctor family. Interested may con-
tact 94765020.
Urgently required Kerala house
maid. Visa available. contact
94146486
Housemaid required for full-time
for Indian family, Hindi/English
speaking CBD area Ruwi.
Contact: 96183093
Looking for a part-time cook-cum-housemaid in Azaiba.
Call 92450197.
MISCELLANEOUS
Required candidates for following
posts: Accountant, Storekeeper, Foreman Building Maintenance, Van-salesman (water), Helpers. Candidates with Omani driv-
ing license preferred. Contact
99273774/99202278Required Draftsman for Consul-
tancy office. 3-5 years experience
in Architectural Structural Drafting.
Email [email protected]
Wanted driver. Contact : 91025698
Part or full time Driver Required call
us 91120552
Required for a reputed Medical
Center in Al Khuwair, Medical Mar-
keting Executive with experience.
Please send CV : absmc2013@
gmail.com FAX: 24488660
Wanted Nurse for a dental centre
in capital area. Interested may
contact – 93431024 or send CV to
Wanted Staff Nurse for
a dermatology clinic in Muscat .
Must have MOH license and NOC.
Attractive salary offered. Email:
Required gynecologist GEN: practitioner lady lab Technician and pharmacologist immediately
for a clinic in Suwaiq. #95081010
Email: [email protected]
Required female Nurse, with MOH
license for private dental clinic in
Bowshar area, Muscat.#92189807
GP doctor needed for reputed clin-
ic. Preferably with MOH license or
with Dataflow & Paramatics pass
Contact: 95388934
SALES / MARKETING
SALES / MARKETING
EDUCATION/TRAINING
Electrician cum Plumber, Maintenance Supervisor with
D/L, Building Material Salesman,
C.C.T.V Technician. #9938304. E
mail: [email protected]
CATERING
Cooks (Arabic Indian) gulf exp
looking job. Contact:
99531802
Indian male, rich working experi-
ence in oman as “ Personal Assis-
tant / Office Manager (Executive
Office) / senior administrator /
business development asst.” hold-
ing Omani driving license. Local
release available – 99168054 -
10 yrs experienced Omani PRO
looking for suitable position. Good
knowledge in HR Admin ROP, all
Ministries related affairs. Contact:
99588154 / 93387833
MBA professional with 5 yrs exp
in the field of HR , Administration,
Sales (Business Development)
and accounts, holding valid UAE
driving license on visit visa until
end of March. Contact: 91731542/
B.Com 3 years business process
outsourcing. Contact: 94657273
Indian male 26 yrs MCA, 2 yrs ex-
perienced in System Admin & data
base controller. Contact: 92835125
Female MBA – HR professional, 5
yrs experience in teaching & admin-
istration, have flair in areas of man-
agement, on visit visa. #95905163,
Email : [email protected]
Indian Male – MBA (HR) & En-
gineering graduation with total 9
years of experience in HR & Admin
( 3 yrs of Oman Exp.) along with
hands on experience in technical
bid submission for all Government
& PDO tenders ready to join im-
mediately with NOC. #@ 91240251/
Email; [email protected]
Indian Female, MBA-HR having 8+
experience in Administration/HR,
Customer Support, Office Coordina-
tor with good Computer skill, Now
on Visit Visa,looking for suitable
position. Contact: 90196235
Indian male MBA 33yrs having 10
yrs of exp seeking full time suit-
able placement in Administration/
HR/ Operations/ Coordination/
Logistics. Holding valid D/L.
Contact 99054786
Indian male MBA- UK 18 yrs Gulf
exp in Administration/ HR & Public
relationship. Fluent in Arabic/
English with D/L. Looking for suit-
able position. Contact - 99897280
Young Omani male have experi-
ence 12 years as P.R.O, CLERK
Helper Supervisor Admin Supervi-
sor, H.R Manager have diploma in
H.S.E, IT and P.D.O license, looking
for H.R position or P.R.O part time
or full time. Contact: 95933288
Filipino male with 13 years HR and
Administration managerial experi-
ence. MBA & CIPD holder. Currently
looking for job in Oman. Interested
employer Contact - 97728418.
Indian, 26 yrs , female , 5 yrs exp
in HR/ Admin with valid Oman
D/L seeking suitable placement.
Contact: 98236033
Indian female, Masters in HR,
having 4 + years Oman experience
in media management and HR,
looking for openings in HR, Educa-
tion, Admin, Corporate communi-
cations. Contact 98252030
Urgently required a Marketing Executive with 2 years experience
and driving license (GCC) for a re-
puted building material & electrical
showroom in Al Khoud. Please send
CV to – startradingmuscat@gmail.
com. Contact - 94320909
Urgent required Salesman with
minimum 2 years of experience in
Sales & marketing for gift articles
shop. Contact: 96917952 Email:
28/male/MBA - finance/B.Com -
Accountant with 4 years of Dubai/
India experience looking for a
suitable placement. #90187483
Dynamic Indian Male Account-
ant with 9 Years Experience seeks
suitable placement. NOC available.
Contact: 96902860
An experienced Chartered Account-
ant with over 25 years in varied
industries, presently working with a
reputed group in Muscat, looking out
for a suitable change. #96491030
Indian male, 24 yrs, Graduated
with specialization in Accounting
2 years experienced C.A.CPT com-
pleted. #94628086 / 97315091
Accounting fixed asset inventory
reconciliation software installation
support service. Contact: 97703143
Data entry, MS Word, Excel, Ac-
counting Installing software and
windows, also know repairing
system 1 year and 6 months work in
sports in Pakistan language, Urdu,
English, Spanish, bachelor of arts
BA. Contact 94879732
25 yrs, MBA (finance) 1.2 years
experience seeking for Accounts
job. Contact : 94819575
10 yrs of Oman experience capable
of handling large accounts, looking
for suitable placement in senior
sales / business development posi-
tion. Contact : 98987654
Indian female 24 B.Com M.Com
having 1 year experience as Cus-
tomer Relation Executive seeks for
suitable placement. #95128242
Email: [email protected]
Accountant available with NOC, 7
years experience in Oman. Ready
to join immediately. Contact :
98263394
Indian male 24 yrs B. Com, Tally
ERP with one year exp seeking for
suitable placement. Now on visit
visa. Contact: 94469269
Indian male 7 yrs Oman exp, Tally
ERP 9, Accounting, inventory con-
troller / asset supervisor & IT sup-
port, marketing seeking suitable
job. NOC available B.Com ,PGDCA ,
location Sohar having Oman D/L.
Contact 98317698, Email:
Indian female BA, 2 yrs exp look-
ing for suitable position in HR &
Administration. #94656009
A reputed multinational Trading & Services Co. in Oman requires
Service Sales ENGINEERThe candidate should be a Mechanical Engineer / Sr. Technician
With min. 3 years experience in related fields :
Sales of predictive maintenance tools and condition monitoring
technologies
Hands on experience in:
* Vibration Analysis of rotating machineries
* Machinery Balancing & Alignment
* Thermography
* Troubleshooting of machinery malfunctions
Submit CV to : [email protected]
An Art Gallery located in Qurum Area is looking for an Art
Gallery Manager to temporary run the place during the entire
month of June of this year.
Requirements for the jobs:- Omani female.
- Respectable, punctual, hard-working and good
communications skills.
- Fluent in speaking, reading and writing English.
- To have some experience in the field of Sales
- Have basic knowledge in using a computer.
- Having a degree in Fine Arts or History of Arts is an
advantage.
- Able to provide own transport
CVs are to be sent to the following e-mail account: [email protected]
For further information, please call 24566130
Wanted A Sales person
with valid GCC D/L,
experienced in project
selling of Ceramic tiles &
sanitary ware. Contact
with contractors &
consultants would be an
added advantage.
Email CV to – [email protected]
DRAFTSMAN
ENGINEER/MECHANIC.
MANAGER
A well reputed building material
& contracting Company in Oman is
looking for staff: Project Manager
(more than 10 yrs experience), En-
gineer (more than 5 years of expe-
rience), Purchase Manager (more
than 10 yrs of experience). Contact:
99808868 Email: amtcbarka@
gmail.com
WANTED URGENTLY FORINDIAN SCHOOL IBRI
“Teachers to teach English & Chemistry. Qualified
Candidates with minimum two years of teaching
experience may send in their C.V immediately to The
Principal, Indian School Ibri, P.O Box: 160, Postal Code:
511, Ibri. or e-mail : [email protected]”
NB:- This is a free recruitment with no fee of any kind
payable by the candidate to anyone.
Medical/Engineering Entrance
coaching: Teachers for Chemistry,
Maths & Biology required urgently
call 91396893 or email :
TECHNICIAN
We, the storm shield in the talented candidates for the below
positions (Indian only): Maintenance Technician (male -1) should have knowledge of new
mobile devices & 3 years Oman
experience # 94441111 Send CV to
email: [email protected]
A well reputed International FMCG is looking
for a young and dynamic marketer to take on the
role of a Marketing Coordinator in Muscat. The
role requires 2-3 years of marketing experience
with a bachelors degree along with valid Oman
driving license, proficiency in Microsoft Office, &
good English skills.
Suitable candidates should forward their CV on the provided
Email address : [email protected]
Required Bachelor of Civil Engi-
neering for Supervision for Consul-
tancy office. 5 years experience in
Supervision PMC duties in Oman
preferred. Email : careerssabla@
gmail.com
Decoration Company looking for
Interior Design Engineer with
experience in 3D and Supervision.
Send your CV with the design
which you have done and after the
implementation. Email: alrih16@
hotmail.com
Urgent required Salesman with
minimum 3 years of experience in
building materials (tiles & sanitary
wares) with valid GCC license.
#96917952, swapneelbhatt@
gmail.com
Urgent required Salesman with
minimum 3 years of experience
in printing line with valid GCC
license. Contact: 96917952 Email:
Required Sales and Marketing
Manager must possess excel-
lent communication skills. Fluent
English speaking, Arabic speaking
is preferred. Minimum of 2 years of
professional experience. Candi-
dates are requested to send their
CVS to [email protected]
A leading company in the sale of
heavy machines in the Sultanate
of Oman looking for job promoter
commercial and salesperson to
conduction. Send your CV to Email:
[email protected] Contact: +968
96329918
Required urgently for a pastry
shop in Muscat Sales lady and
Pastry Chef. Filipino National only.
Contact : 96962297
We are a professional visa consult-
ant in Oman, looking for a STUDENT
COUNSELOR AND IMMIGRATION
COUNSELOR for our company. Inter-
ested candidates can email their CV
Looking for a country Sales Execu-
tive with valid driving license and
good communication skills. Inter-
ested candidates please send in the
CV’s to [email protected]
Required Sales staff 2 NOS Having
experience in Cosmetics Sales.
Send your updated CV to
GSM 92683688
Urgently Required Steel Fabri-cated Products Salesman with
an experience in steel fabrication,
MUST have Oman driving license,
and immediately join. Apply,
fax 00968–24605955, emails
Required Temporary
Instructorfor summer camp
For further details kindly contact Mr.babu 99380374
or fax 24593277
REQUIRED FOR AN OMANI FAMILY1. COOKS – experienced in Indian/Arabic/Continental
2. HOUSE KEEPING SUPERVISOR
3. WAITERS/HOUSE BOYS
- English speaking
- Experienced in good hotelsAttractive salary & terms offered
Pl. reply – [email protected]. Box 200, P.C.100, Muscat,
Fax: 24614144
LABOR WANTED!Wanted experienced
masons for a reputed
construction company,
handsome package is
offered. VISA AVAILABLE
IMMIDIATELY.
Contact number:-
95739143Email :-
ENGINEER/MECHANIC.
A well reputed building material &
contracting Company in Oman is
looking for staff: Project Manager
(more than 10 yrs experience), En-
gineer (more than 5 years of expe-
rience), Purchase Manager (more
than 10 yrs of experience). Contact:
99808868 Email: amtcbarka@
gmail.com
A Leading construction company
in Muscat urgently requires expe-
rienced Civil Engineer to work as
Project Manager / Advisor ( Omani
Nationals only) for full time or part
time. Send C.V to hr.azatllc@gmail.
com Whatsapp 98437450
Civil Engineer with minimum 5/8
years experience with valid Oman
driving license. Contact Interested
candidates send CV to:
Email: [email protected]
Gsm: 95892831/95197615
Indian male 25 yrs, Graduate in com-
merce, overall 5 yrs exp in accounts/
finance field. On visit visa. Immedi-
ately available. CONTACT 92836216 /
Female seeking suitable place-
ment in reputed Company, 5 yrs
experience in Oman. Skills : Tally,
EKP9, Sage ACC, PAC, ITIL, MS Of-
fice. Contact 95483804,
Male Accountant M.Com Accounts
& finance, 3 yrs exp in accounts
looking for suitable job on visit visa.
Contact: 94648575
Indian CA finalist, 7 yrs exp having
driving license with visa looking for
finance / accounts position Email:
[email protected], 98097009
B.Com Graduate, Indian male 24
yrs, 3 yrs exp in Oman looking for
Accounting, Sales, suitable jobs.
NOC Available. Contact:90615814.
Mail : [email protected]
Fresher 24, ACCA Affiliate, Advanced
diploma in Accounting and Business
seeking suitable placement in Ac-
counts, Finance or Audit with Oman
driving license.#- 92430152
Email - [email protected]
ACCA member with 6 yrs of expe-
rience in Oman looking for a suit-
able job in finance. #99284193
Indian male, 32 yrs, B.Com having
8 yrs Accounts experience in Oman,
looking for suitable placement (local
release + Oman D/L available). Con-
tact 97494322 / 98093515
Indian male 28 yrs MBA finance/
marketing and graduate in com-
puter experience 3 yrs seeking
suitable job, now family visit visa.
Contact: 93195378
Email: [email protected]
Indian Male Accountant 10yrs Exp.
in OMAN Retail & Furniture Co. (Re-
lease Available)#92564955
Indian male 34 Yrs, Dual MBA
Finance and marketing with IT
skills, 7+ yrs of experience,
Looking for suitable placement.
Contact : 94879615,Email-
SENIOR ACCOUNTANT, with
13yrs experience, 6 yrs Oman in
manufacturing, trading & contract-
ing Cos, capable of handling all
accounting, finance, banking, L/C,
import, export & finalization seeks
placement. NOC Available.
Call+968-98932752,
mail:[email protected]
MBA, Finance, 1 yr experience in
Accounting now on visit visa, look-
ing for suitable job. #92901121,
Email : [email protected]
SENIOR ACCOUNTANT-M. Com
Finance-Indian with 7 years experi-
ence in Finance & Accounts up to fina-
lization. Currently employed in Oman.
Having D/L & NOC. #94122464,
Email: [email protected]
Chief Accountant 25 years experi-
enced looking for part/full time ac-
countant job. #95598477/98803439
Indian male 25 B.Com (graduate) 2
years experience as accountant in
country club India with ERP
oracle r12, tally knowledge. On visit
visa immediately available.
Email: [email protected]
Contact- 9042-1161
Indian female 25 yrs, MBA HR &
Marketing, with one and half years
experience as accountant and
6 months experience in teaching,
now on a visit visa, seeking suit-
able position. Contact: 99624044,
mail: [email protected].
DAILY GUIDES U N D AY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6 D5
SITUATION WANTEDSITUATION WANTED
DRIVER
ENGG. / TECH./MECH.
ELECTRICAL ENGINEERIndian male 30 years, having 5 years
of experience in industrial automation and utility
maintenance in India (MRF Tyres), holding valid Oman D/L.
Contact - 92789995Email: [email protected]
IT
Indian History graduate with diploma in Safety with
valid Oman Driving licence seeks suitable placement.
Contact-93361624, [email protected]
MEDICAL
DESIGNER/DRAUGHTSMAN
Indian female (MSC – Microbiolo-
gist) seeking suitable job. Contact:
96791162 / 90618567
Indian female dentist with MOH
license having 3 years experi-
ence seeking immediate place-
ment.NOC available Contact:
96678476/90343750, Email:
Indian Bsc Female Nurse with
6.5 years exp, 4 years in KSA.
Passed Oman Pro Metric with 69%,
completed data flow. Presently in
Muscat in visit visa looking for a
suitable placement.
Contact 94744900, 94742834,
Male GP Doctor with NOC 6 yrs
experience in Oman for perm/locum
job. Contact : 97746074
An experienced Sudanese female Dentist with MOH license looking
for job. #96436517 /97396088
Pakistani male light vehicle driver
with 5 years experience looking
for job. Contact: 92171166
Looking for light driver. Contact :
99753474
Light duty driver, 3 years driving
experience of Oman, staying in
Oman from last 8 years. Contact:
96731603
Light car driving. #99578213
Looking for light driving job 2
years exp. Contact: 91625977
Pakistani looking for driver job,
6 years experience with own car.
Contact : 95365879
Driver. Contact : 94087276
Pakistani male light Vehicle Driver
with car looking for job. Contact:
99630504
2 years exp driver seeks place-
ment. Contact: 92055093
Omani male, 37 yrs, with 18 yrs
experience in heavy & medium
vehicles driving looking for driver
job for reputed higher officials
(PDO light vehicle license & heavy
vehicle license). #99808035
Pakistani, 3 yrs experience in
Oman seeks driver job. Knows Hin-
di, Urdu, English & Arabic. Contact
92142648
Pakistani male light vehicle driver
looking for job. Contact: 99521033
Light driver looking for job Oman
exp. Contact :95292621
Indian light driver cum house
cleaner. contact 96255558
/99415443
Indian male, MCA
(Post Graduate) fresher seeking
suitable placement
anywhere in Oman, now on
visit visa.
Contact 92319677, Email :
Electrical Engineer, 7 years exp,
NOC, GCC driving license looking
for suitable jobs in MEP services,
O & M of high voltage systems,
FMS. Contact: 96137008
Civil Engineer 6 years experience,
4 years in Oman, with driving license
available. Contact 92553263
B.Tech Mechanical Engineer, on
visit visa looking for job, who has
done certification courses in quality
control, basic pipeline engineering,
ASNT NDT level II, also good knowl-
edge in HVAC. Contact: 94743373
email:[email protected]
BE CS, 23 yrs male, Indian looking
for suitable job. Contact 90658834
Indian male M.SC in Structural
Engineering (U.K) B.Tech in Civil
Engineering (India), currently in
Oman on visit looking for a suitable
job. Contact : 93699710 Email:
Indian male, 29 yrs, B.Tech (EEE)
with 5+ yrs of experience from reput-
ed firms in the field of Electrical Site
Execution & Project Coordination in
HL, LT for various EPC Projects, now
on visit, seeks suitable placement in
related industries.#92310762, email
B.Tech Mechanical Engineer, on
visit visa looking for job, who has
done certification courses in quality
control, basic pipeline engineering,
ASNT NDT level II, also good knowl-
edge in HVAC.Contact:94743373
email:[email protected]
Engineer with 5 years technical
sales experience among leading
brands in Oman construction market
D/L. Contact : 93985140 Male QC Inspector Mechanical,
NDT 20 years experience valid
Oman D/L, NOC available. Contact:
91001104
B.Sc Civil Engineer 27 yrs Oman
exp as project manager, struc-
tural engineer looking for suitable
placement. NOC/local transfer
available. Contact: 99349578.
Email:[email protected]
Sales & Marketing specialist
with 16 yrs experience in Oman in
MNC retails telecom lubes
construction related industry
handled various projects, holding
valid Oman driving license,
release available.
Contact 96960991
DOMESTIC HELP
ARCHITECTURE
Housemaid (overseas) Indian fam-
ily looking for job. #99531802
Syrian Architect with 3 years of
experience in Design and Supervi-
sor in Oman. Contact : 97915193
Female Architecture with 3 years
experience seeking for a job knows
(AutoCAD2D, Photoshop, 3D Max
sketch up modeling). Contact:
95582641 / 99632745
3D & Multimedia Designer look-
ing for job, currently using family
visa. Contact : 95844940 Email:
Revit, autocad, 3d max , diploma
civil engg, certificate attested, sal-
ary exp : 250 OMR. #92279784
CAD Technician Looking for Job
Diploma holder. experience: 5.5
oman+Total12 years. #96534071
Revit, Autocad D/man, expected
salary 200 OMR PH :92279784
Senior CAD Designer Indian male
with 10 years of experience (8
years of experience in GCC) good
knowledge of architectural, civil
using AutoCAD, MS Office seeking
suitable position. Contact: 90518123
Email: [email protected]
Indian Female, Bsc Fashion De-
signer with Oman driving Lisence,
looking for any good job.
Contact 98757582
Interior Designer Seeking suit-
able job. On visit visa in Oman.
Contact - 92166130
AutoCAD draftsman experience 2
years. Contact: 93738335 /95809393
Email: [email protected]
EDUCATION/TRAINING
Female B. Ed English teacher, 7 yrs
exp seeking suitable placement. Con-
tact : 99739415 / 92091528
Indian female 29 yrs MSc, MED sci-
ence on family visa 2 yrs experience
in teaching field looking for a suit-
able placement. Contact : 93717403
Email: [email protected]
Indian Female, MSc Maths from
a Central University, B.ED quali-
fied with over 6 yrs into teaching.
Distinction holder and passion for
teaching, currently on family Visa.
Contact: 91360147. iffi_ftm@yahoo.
co.in.
Pakistani male, 2.5 yrs experience
in AutoCAD Electrical design, esti-
mation, installation commissioning,
operation maintenance of switch-
gear panels MV, LT, MCC, HVAC,
Gen Set, fire alarm panels, available
on visit visa before 2nd April 2016
looking for suitable placement.
Contact 92012760, Email : ahmed.
B.E Electronics & Instrumentation
Engg, certification in Industrial
Automation having 2 yrs G.C.C exp
in power plant (termination & com-
missioning) having Omani driving
license. Contact: 95862110 Email:
Civil Engineer with 9 years experi-
ence seeks suitable placement,
NOC available. Contact : 91195257
Email: [email protected]
Indian Engineer 2 years experi-
ence B.Tech (IT) CCNA & MCP certi-
fied visit visa seeks challenging
positions. Contact: 968 93184847,
Email : [email protected]
Indian Merchandise, 7 years
experience Dubai seeks challeng-
ing positions D/L in Dubai. Contact :
90390323 Email: nvshameem123@
gmail.com
Indian male, 27 yrs, Electronics
Engineer (B.Tech) & MBA, Project
Management with 5 years experi-
ence in electronic security system,
optical fiber, project planning instal-
lation. Contact 94819139,
B.E Mechanical Engineer, 24, one
year experience as Production
Shift Engineer, Trained on HVAC
Engineering design and has good
hands on software like AutoCAD
and HAP. On a visit visa, looking
for a suitable placement.Con-
tact:95065955 Email: mjs.jazeb@
gmail.com
Indian male 26 yrs, Diploma in
Electrical Engg residing in Oman
seeking job in supervisor. Contact
: 92182283 / 95767146, Email :
Indian Civil Engineer (BE) with
16 years of industry experience in
design, quantity surveying, looking
for suitable job. #90302823 Email:
Diploma in Civil Engineer having
8 years experience in Oman with
driving license. Release available
seek replacement urgently. Con-
tact: 95387537 / 97232020
HSE OFFICER - 7yrs GCC experi-
ence, (Indian, 29 yrs) transfer-
able VISA, Diploma, NEBOSH IGC,
OSHA, IIRSM. Mob :96647486
Indian male 23 Mechanical Engi-
neer (B.E) residing in Oman looking
for suitable job. Contact: 98530806
/ 99362006
B.Sc in Civil Engineer having 10
yrs experience in structural design-
er in RCC structure & steel struc-
ture in Dubai having Municipality
approval & Dubai driving license
looking for suitable position. Email :
BE Mechanical & Diploma with 4
yrs experience in India looking for
suitable job. Contact 90542737
Male Dip.Civil Engineer, having 20
yrs exp (building & road) looking for
suitable job. Contact: 94720782
Indian male 35yrs BE - Engg 15 yrs
exp in UAE Site Manager looking
for job. Contact 95802614, Email :
Pakistani male Diploma Civil En-
gineer 4yrs exp in Oman bulling &
mega projects, valid license Oman.
contact:98921022
Procurement Engineer (27 years
single male with Oman Driving Li-
cense) having 7 years experience
(UAE 2, Oman 3) with expertise in
MEP, Water, Electromechanical,
Instrumentation seeking suitable
placements. Contact 95852033,
mail: [email protected]
Indian female, 31 yrs, 7 yrs expe-
rienced as AutoCAD civil drafts-
man (2 yrs experience in Oman)
currently in Oman seeks suitable.
Contact 96789441
Email: [email protected]
Indian Male, IT System Engineer
having 4 yrs of experience in sys-
tem administration.CCNA,MCSE,
Linux. Looking for suitable job.
Contact :91272867
Male, 31 years, M.I.T, CCNA, 9
years exp in Qatar as assistant IT
manager, network administrator,
server management and knowl-
edge of developing website. Qatar
D/L and available in Oman on visit
visa. Contact:00968-98179462.
0097477237607, Email:
Indian female B.Tech IT having
2 years experience in Oman in
Admin Insurance & IT support
looking for suitable position.
#98679397
Indian male 27 yrs master in
computer applications currently
in Muscat with Oman driving li-
cense seeking suitable placement.
#93191800 Email: vijilraj60@
gmail.com
5 yrs experienced Network
Administrator seeks suitable
job,1 year Gulf experience, Indian
Nationality, Indian (Keralite), male,
fluent in English, Hindi. Contact 91
9747520792 (India), 94022497
/ 98078068 (Oman), email :
INDIAN FEMALE COMPLETED
M.C.A seeking for suitable jobs. Con-
tact: 91409481 / 97308719
ASP.NET WEB DEVELOPER ,
3 YR EXP, PH : 97947921
INDIAN male, pursued
bachelor’s of computer science
having experience in desktop En-
gineer, looking for IT job, on visit
visa, seeking suitable placement.
#98784174 ,email :
Indian female, B.Tech graduate,
with one and half years experience
as ‘web developer’ interested in web
development and has experience
working in HTML,CSS,Bootstrap,
JavaScript and Photoshop. contact
9592 7075 e-mail id:
Indian female, B.Tech graduate,
with one and half years experience
as ‘web developer’ interested in web
development and has experience
working in HTML, CSS, Bootstrap,
JavaScript and Photoshop.
Contact : 9592 7075, e-mail id:
MANAGER
Purchase/Planning & Logistics Manager MBA (Finance), 14yrs.
Oman Exp. with D/L, OC avail-
able, looking for suitable posi-
tion.#93826090, jskanchan01@
gmail.com
The Business Development Manager,
Iraqi, Experience 15 Years Inside
and outside Oman following activi-
ties: construction(Very strong and
qualified to bringing business for civil
work Or any type of the construction
work for many million per year with
a good experience in pricing and col-
lect payment and cash management
of the company & marketing projects
& investments& tenders & real estate.
Contact 92385033
Building Site Supervisor with
Oman D/L working in Oman since
2010 looking for suitable place-
ment. Contact: 91507828
15 years Oman experienced
procurement manager with good
knowledge of material and market.
Contact 96549399
Operations & Accounts Manager
Indian 18 years experience in
Oman finance, purchase, sales, HR,
Admin looking for Senior position.
Contact : 99044724
SKILLED / UNSKILLED
Mason, SH / carpenter, steel fitter
gulf & Indian exp looking job.
Contact: 95175192
MISCELLANEOUS
12 yrs exp with store incharge
purchasing having valid Omani
driving license. #99004638
Indian male 37 yrs X-Ray welder
7 yrs exp (ARC, TIG, ARGON,
Welding) seeking suitable job.
Contact: 91360190/98223683
Graduate, computer literate, experi-
enced in sales, credit control,
accounts, Omani D/L , seeks suit-
able placement. Gsm 98805474
Indian female on visit MBA
(International Business- Market-
ing & Logistics), BE (Computers &
Science Engg.) Trained in SAP-BI/
BW with 1 year experience
seeking for job Contact: 90228586
Email:[email protected]
A lady entrepreneur with BF Tech
1st Class (Fashion Technology)
since 2006 in Kerala like to make
change for better. Specialized in
designing, Production Management,
Fashion Art, Grading, Surface orna-
mentation, Garment Construction.
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: +919539397097.
Bangladeshi male, University
M.Com, Working as an Accountant
& Administrator in Oman; search-
ing better job. Phone: 94864966
Email: [email protected]
HOSPITALITYIndian male with 1 year experi-
ence in food and beverage service
as Steward / Guest Associate look-
ing for suitable job in hospitality
/ hotel organization, presently on
visit visa. Contact: 94130103
Hospitality/Hotel/ Restaurants
Dynamic result oriented hospital-
ity professional with 20 years of
international exp. MBA in Hotel
Management, specializing in
Hotel/Restaurant start ups, con-
cepts & Franchise development
with proven records. Seeking for
Challenging positions in reputed
groups as GM/COO/CEO/Business
Head. (NOC available) #96059470
SECRETARIAL & OFFICE
Lady Secretary / Sales Co-coordi-
nator 12 years experience in Oman
in reputed companies, seek imme-
diate Employment. Call: 95244761
An Iraqi civil with more than 30
years experience in (Iraq and G.C.C)
looking for a job, (N.O.C) available.
Contact: 96561306
Email: [email protected]
Civil Engineer 11 yrs exp in con-
struction field having Oman driving
license & NOC. Contact – 94194399 /
Engineer has 10 years local &
international experience in ready
mix concrete also in Oil & Gas field
also in marketing & sales field , has
Omani driving license. #92534098
Indian male, Mechanical
Engineer having 1year experi-
ence, on visit visa looking for
suitable job. Contact:97416564,
Email:[email protected]
Civil Engineer diploma, 4 yrsexp
seeks suitable position ina reputed
company. NOC available. #96789711
Civil Engineer 8 years experience
in Oman as a project engineer for
governmental & private projects.
Contact – 90164912
Civil Engineer 8 years experience
Structural buildings marine. Availa-
ble NOC release. Contact: 92451323.
Email: [email protected]
Civil Engineer (B.Tech), Indian
male 24 years with 1+years Indian
experience,(Certified in Staad
Pro/ Quantity Survey/ Auto Cad).
Looking for a Suitable position.
Available In Sultanate of Oman
(Muscat) on Visit Visa.
Contact: 92835952. E-mail:
Indian male Electrical Engineer, having 6 years gulf experience in
designing, assembling, commis-
sioning execution etc having valid
GCC license too looking for a suit-
able. Contact: 00968-98052942
Email: [email protected]
HSE Engineer (B.E Mech+Diploma
Safety+NEBOSH+OSHA) over
10yrs. Exp, (Visa Release Letter
(NOC) available), seeking suit-
able placement, Mob:97061817,
Email:[email protected]
Male, NDT, QA/QC Supervision
Mechanical 10 yrs experience
seeks suitable placement.
Contact 96954202, Email :
Sr. Electrical Engineer with17+ yrs
of exceptional exp in spear head-
ing strategic planning and project
management initiatives & execut-
ing various high rise residential
& commercial building as well as
roads and highway project with
proficiency in installation, seeking
a challenging position in a dynamic
organization. contact 96570891
Indian male,24 yrs, Electronics
& Telecom, Graduate, Mumbai
University (2015 batch) looking
for entry level job in Engg.com
having good knowledge at telecom,
networking ,fiber optic, Oraclellg-
SQL, PLSQL, now in Muscat on
3 months visit visa. Contact :
91868936 / 93101922. Email: sid-
Diploma in Mechanical Eng pip-
ing system in AutoCAD work, 21+
years experience with Driving
license. Contact: 95267113
Email: [email protected]
Network Engineer CCNA-MCSA
exp computer science with NOC.
Contact : 92346191
Structural Engineer, 8 yrs expe-
rienced in flat slab, post tensioned
& slab-beam multi story building
design & supervision with driving
license. Contact: 98256860
Indian Mechanical Engineer having
8.5 years of experience in mechani-
cal maintenance of steel plant sinter-
ing division looking for a suitable job
Oman. Knowledge of maintenance
in belt conveyors, mixers, circle
cooler, ID fans, vibratory screen,
two and four roll crushers, weigh
feeders, ESP, rotary valves, apron
feeder,dragconveyor and vibrofeeder.
Please #0091-8805022155
Indian Civil Engineer in UAE seek-
ing suitable placement in Muscat-
Contact 00968 99142171
Electrical Engineer with 18 years
exp in UAE. Contact: 98148034
Email: [email protected]
Electrical & Electronics Engineer with 3 years GCC exp in sales, GCC
driving license. Seeking suitable
placement. Contact - 90301410
Civil Engineer 6 yrs Exp in Oman
with license. Contact: 98975518
Sri Lankan Engineer (27 Years
old) – B.Sc Engineering (Hon)
Mining / Geotechnical Presently
in Muscat, 1.5 years experience.
Contact 91295802
Mechanical Engineer M.Tech
2 years experience HVAC design
& site Engg revit MEP Auto CAD.
Contact: 90150913 Email:
Indian female civil engineer
B.Tech having 3 years experience
sound knowledge of software, RE-
VIT STAD PRO structural detailing
currently on family visa seeks suit-
able placement #95345591
Civil Engineer (BE) having total
5 years experience in building
construction looking for a suitable
placement. D/L available#94450270
Bachelor Civil Engineer 6 Years
in Oman experience Valid Driving
License seeks suitable placement
Phone 97619722
Email – [email protected]
Road and Construction Engineer with 5 years exp in Oman.
Contact: 97667113
7 Yrs Exp. PM in Mech. Engg in
the field of Building Const. Oil &
Gas Seeking Job.94625598
Mechanical Engineer with 3 Yrs
experience in international Oil &
Gas company looking for job Con-
tacts: Tel: 90164236 Email:
Indian Electrical Engineer Btech,
female 24 seeking job, presently
in oman having 2 year experience
in design and estimation of Ht &Lt
projects. Contact 968 97436557,
Mail id : [email protected]
Sudanese Telecom Engineer, 5 years experience, 3 years in Oman
PMP certificate. contact 93391008
Email: [email protected]
Indian Male 23 years B.Tech
Civil having 2 years experience in
quantity survey and site manage-
ment looking for suitable place-
ment. Contact:- 95042656
MANAGER
Production Manager 9 years
experience in Oman manufacture
and development factories .GRB.
GRC. GRG rubber molds and false
ceilings, fiberglass and executive
at site [email protected]
96149081
The Business Development Manager, Iraqi, Experience 15
Years Inside and outside Oman
following activities: tenders& real
estate& construction & marketing
projects& investments & trans-
portation & Marine services&
companies management& develop
business. Contact: :- 92385033
Indian male, with experience in
operations management, informa-
tion security, purchase & stores
mgmt, hold UAE driving license,
on visit visa, seeks suitable job.
#91904541
Email: [email protected]
DAILY GUIDED6 S U N D AY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
SITUATION WANTEDEDUCATION/CLASSES/COMPUTER/WEBSITE
Karate and self defense classes
at Azaiba 18 Nov Street. RO 10 per
month twice a week Monday and
Tuesday 6. 30 TO 7. 30. PM.
CONTACT 98294551
Spoken Arabic class for Non
Arabic Speakers & English
class for Malayalam Speakers
in Azaiba and Ruwi earn in two months
tion guaranteed
Tel: 95244310
Any time available transportation
solution for house office shifting,
TV fixing, carpenter all type of
maintenance.#Indian person :
95194801 / 96594592 Whatsapp
MISCELLANEOUSMISCELLANEOUS
MISCELLANEOUS
MISCELLANEOUS
Indian Female on a visit visa hav-
ing master degree seeking suitable
placement in any field, 1 ,5 year
experience in HR .Contact :
+968 91467576.
Filipino Male, 24 Years Old..look-
ing for job, have experience in
Cargo & Logistics/ Rent a Car/ Real
Estate/ Finance & Accounts/cus-
tomer service and as Travel Agent.
Hard working and with good com-
puter and communication skills.
GSM: 95370052
Indian Female on a visit visa hav-
ing master degree seeking suitable
placement in any field, 1 and half
year experience in HR .Contact :
+968 91467576
.
Indian Female, 24 MA Eng. Litr
with 2 yrs experience in teach-
ing & 14 months in Administra-
tion cum Secretary, Currently
on visit visa, seeks suitable job.
Contact: 92613704/99260702,
Email:[email protected]
Sri Lankan Male 34 BSc. (Physics)
5 years experience as a site man-
ager and administration supervi-
sor in Oman with valid D/L looking
for a suitable position. Contact
99153061 or v.chandramohan@
yahoo.co.uk
Female Junior Architect Gradu-
ated from School of Planning & Ar-
chitecture, Vijayawada. Excellence
in Autocad, Sketching & Model-
ling. Internship - KHAM Designs,
Bangalore. Presently with Atulya
Architects & Associates. Email
Contact 00968-94057427.
2 years experienced male seeking
job related to safety. M. Tech in
HSE, MSc in Environmental Sci-
ence and IOSH certified. Contact :
94653264
Indian male 37 YEARS, BSC
COMPUTER SCIENCE having More
than 8yrs of experience with well
exposure in PDO, DALEEL & OXY
as IT SUPPORT / DESKTOP SUP-
PORT ENGINEER. Seeking suitable
placement. Contact rangaraj_vck@
yahoo.co.in / 968-99758320
Indian Female Electronics System
Eng. UK Graduate. Programmer Mi-
cro Controller Robot, Eng. Analysis,
Instrumentation & Control, Eng.
Projects, Integrated Circuit Eng.,
Electrical and Fluid Drives, Ana-
logue Electronics, Wireless Sys-
tems. Seeking suitable post. Con-
tact: 97848075, s.dinesh1508@
gmail.com
SITUATION WANTEDSIT. WANTED
SITUATION WANT-SIT. WANTED
SITUATION WANT-SIT. WANTED
TOURS & TRAVEL
Indian , presently on visit visa
Graduate and IATA certified seek-
ing a job in travel and tourism.
Contact: 97066058
Indian female BA IATA, 7 yrs exp
in travel industry knows SABRE
AMADEUS GALILEO on family visa
seeks opportunity in Oman. Contact
93531170. E mail:
Filipinas lady having exp in
ticketing and preservation, call
center, secretarial and real estate
is now looking for job please
call.94054080
MV SALE
GMC Acadia No 1 SLT June 2014
Blue Metallic Color 95366777
Toyota Corolla, 1.6 Ltr, 2009
Model, Automatic, 110,000Kms -
RO.3,200/-. Contact: 92769735
Doctor used Nissan Sunny 2012
new model for sale Indians pre-
ferred. Contact : 95991809
WANTED
IELTS Coaching (academic) required
nearby wadi Kabir area. Please call
on mobile or msg on Whats up. Mo-
bile no: 92927880/99012165
WEB, ERP and Business In-
telligence (BI) creation and
management at rock bottom
price. Contact: http//webvie-
woman
LOST
Mohamed Ohidul has lost Bang-
ladeshi Passport No. AG 0128001.
Finder please handover to ROP
Abu Bakar Siddque has lost Bang-
ladeshi Passport No. AE 8770697.
Finder please handover to ROP
Ayaz Zafar Mohammed has lost
Indian Passport No. G 8658283.
Finder please handover to ROP
MATRIMONIAL
Mumbai settled Hindu Ezhava
parents invite proposals for their
son MBA 29 years 5.9 Star Bharani
working with a reputed company in
Muscat 9123 5911.
Mumbai settled Muscat based
Christian born again Keralite girl,
28 yrs, working school in Muscat
looking for suitable alliance. Con-
tact: 99074180 / 97671730
Nair boy 31 /175 cms working in
Muscat Pooram star wants suitable
bride. Contact : 95501263
Ezhava Divorcee, 37 yrs,
5.3”, Pharmacist in Muscat.
Email :suryakv2010@gmail.
com,+919961176066
Keralite, Kollam Marthoma male
(27) yrs diploma in Civil (Muscat)
seeking alliances form suitable
families. Contact:
95253640
Malankara Catholic Male Nurse (28) from Thiruvalla working in
Nizwa Private Co. Alliance invites
parents/nurses working in Oman.
CONTACT 968 98267338, 0091
9287215726
Indian male Roman Catholic 40yrs divorcee working in Muscat.
Seeks suitable alliance from
widow/ divorcee/ single. CONTACT
96059801.
NRI
1650 Sq ft plot with gate for sale
Erettai Vaikkal, Vayalur Road, Trichy
95366777
Housing in a well developed area
for sale in Mangalore 100 meters
from Main road at: Malaraya
Temple Road, Chilimbi Near Urva
stores, Mangalore -Karnataka,
India Land: 181.60 Sq.mts, House
built in the year 1986 consisting
of ground floor and first floor. Total
build up area around 2000 Sq.ft
with car parking. Separate water
and electricity connections. Con-
tact: Anil Kumar: +91 97418 85128
(between 12 noon till 10 pm).
Flats villas land for sale in Pune
Contact: 95272138/918139098275
SALES / MARKETING
Indian MBA Graduate having
4 years in Sales & Marketing
in Oman having Oman driving
license. NOC also available seeks
suitable placement. #94193313
Email: [email protected]
10 yrs exp in procurement, ten-
ders, importing, marketing and
sales, organizing events. Have car
NOC available. #94123939
Indian male 23 yeas BBM & Di-
ploma in logistic. Looking for Indore/
Outdoor sales & marketing suitable
placement, currently in one month
visit visa. Contact: 93180270/
Indian male Graduated in Busi-
ness Management having 4 yrs
exp in marketing & trading, dealt
with international companies and
product also having good knowl-
edge in logistic & Admin looking
forward to join immediately, hav-
ing GCC driving license and car
NOC available. Contact : 93639385
Email: [email protected]
Indian male Graduated in business
management having 4 yrs exp in
marketing & trading dealt with in-
ternational companies and product,
also having good knowledge in
logistic and admin, looking forward
to join immediately. having GCC
driving license and car, NOC avail-
able. Contact : 93639385 email;
Indian male 30 years, Gulf
exp. GCC license looking for job
sales Administration. Contact :
94423288 Email:
B.Com, specialized in market-
ing, SAP - FICO, Tally ERP 9 2 yrs
exp in sales and accounting ph :
90226336
Pakistani male, fresh Graduate
& Diploma in hotel management
& tourism, computer literate,
interested in Sales & Marketing,
Accounts, available on permanent
visa, seeks placement with visa.
NOC available. Contact 91439870,
Email : [email protected]
Warehouse Manager of 4 years
experience in South Africa (retail,
sales & marketing) and teaching in
Maldives, on visiting visa looking
for suitable placement in Muscat.
Contact : 94745292 Email:
Computer Sales and Service man
(Indian) with Diploma in Electron-
ics and Communication with more
than 2 years experience available
in Oman. #97017866 / 95141354
Indian male MBA having 12 years
of Sales experience in Oman
seeking suitable position, good in
Arabic and having valid D/L. NOC
can be obtained (as per new rule).
Contact : 98908634
MBA, Executive Post, Omani Driv-
ing License, 14 years experience
in Multinational Groups in Sales &
Marketing. M.Z. 91685048
MBA Marketing sales & business
development, digital marketing 10
years experience telemarketing
online marketing.#98613324
Manager with 12 years experi-
ence in sales & property manage-
ment, MBA in sales & marketing
with Omani D/L looking for a
suitable position NOC Available.
#98125226
Indian male having 10 years of
exp in sales & customer service
also worked as IT Technician
CCNA Certified. Graduate seeks
suitable placement. contact
92490127
NDT candidate QC job visit visa.
#93857977 / 96085401 Email:
23 yrs, Indian male, B.Com, Gradu-
ate looking for suitable positions
as Assistant Accountant, Market-
ing Executive, Sales Executive or
in Administration, currently on
free visa with valid Oman driving
license. Contact 98093949
An experienced sales & market-
ing person having several years
experience in GCC with valid D/L.
Looking for a suitable position.
Contact – 92124669
MBA graduate having 6 years exp
in Sales & Marketing, 4 years with
PEPSI, India, having international
driving license permit seeks suit-
able placement. #: 95308167,
Email : [email protected]
Sudanese B.Sc in business admin-
istration, exp 8yrs in sales, market-
ing & accounting. #96112453
Indian Male 28 MBA Marketing
with 4 years of experience in sales
with good communication skills
now available in Muscat on visit
visa. GSM 95840153 /
Mail [email protected]
Indian male with 6 yrs of GCC
exp in sales and service & 1 year
of exp in gym fitness instructor.
Seeking job presently in Mus-
cat in family visit visa. Con-
tact: 90694335/ 99438360 or
email:[email protected]
Indian sales marketing profes-
sional highly experienced in busi-
ness development in ME India and
Africa seeks suitable placement.
Contact: 97897611
B.Com male 2 yrs experience in sales
Computer knowledge, seeking suit-
able placement. #98371144
email: [email protected]
Indian male, MBA Marketing
having 2.5 years Sales experience
immediately looking for a suitable
position. Contact: 91415145,
Email: [email protected]
Male 38 yrs Graduate 07 years
experience indoor / outdoor
electronic field with D/License &
NOC available (as per new rule).
#92453375
6 YEARS EXPERIENCE HR/Fi-
nance Indian female[29Years]
MBA. On family visa, Seeking
suitable placement-93908191,
email:[email protected]
Experienced B.Com graduate +
IATA Diploma holder looking for
Accounts/Admin/Travels related
job. Mob. 91142997. NOC available.
Electrical Engineer Indian male
23 yrs, 2 yrs experience HV/LV
Design experience in Oman based
projects experience in HV testing
(220/110/11kv) presently on visit
visa. Contact : 99729860 Email:
Indian female B.C.A, B.E.D, IELTS
experience in Oman teaching
primary & secondary looking for
job. Contact : 97384206 Email:
Indian female, having 10 years
experience in logistics and sales
coordination, exp in SAP, MS Office
valid D/L currently on visit visa
looking for suitable placement.
Contact : 95251911
Accountant 31 years Indian male,
6 years experience in Dubai &
Bahrain with driving license good
computer skills seeking for suit-
able position. Contact : 92791218
Email: [email protected]
MCA, Indian female, experience
in IT & Administration. Contact :
94133849 Email: abpraveena16@
gmail.com
Sudanese male, 5 years experi-
ence in warehouse management
and logistics services CONTACT
90644186
Sr Material controller, having
13 years experience in material
controlling in reputed companies.
Presently working in Muscat
(NOC Available). CONTACT
00968-92944026, Email
Indian/male (25)/ MBA/2 years
experience in channel sales and
distribution management. on visit
visa. available for immediate join-
ing. Contact: 96914068, E mail:
Indian, BE Mechanical Engi-
neering with 1 yr exp as service
Engineer, looking for suitable
positions. Contact-90637918, E
mail: [email protected]
Senior Accountant, 5 yrs Oman,
10 yrs UAE experience in manu-
facturing & construction valid
D/L immediately available. Email:
call: 95389018
32year Indian Male MSC,MBA-
HR having 8yrs Exp(HR / Payroll
/ Admin) with Oman valid DL.
Seeking suitable opening in
Human Resource, Payroll &
Admin/ backend jobs. Con-
tact:00968-99322978
Indian Male ,MBA Finance & Mar-
keting 28 yrs,6+ Exp, with oman
D/L & NOC, Hospital ,Pharma
,Herbal ,FMCG, F&B Marke-
ing ,construction A/c & sales ,
93379044
HSE Engineer, Indian male, 4 plus
years experience in oil & gas,
working in shclumberger Nebosh,
ISOH & NDT certified, M. Tech in
HSE. contact-krish.569@gmail.
com mobile- +91 9867016808
BE Mechanical Engineering
with one year experience now
on visit visa, looking for suitable
positions. CONTACT 90637918 /
99335742,email: aquasharath@
gmail.com
Indian/male (25)/ MBA /2 years
experience in channel sales and
distribution management. on
visit visa. available for immediate
joining. Contact: 96914068, email:
Indian male, 8.5 yrs experience,
B.Com Graduate with GCC exp &
valid driving license looking for
better job opening in Muscat. Con-
tact: 92609935 / 94771365
Indian male with 1 yr exp looking
for job in I.T as Web developer,
presently in Muscat on visit visa.
Contact: 92312978
Indian male network cabling tech-
nician (19 years Gulf experience),
seeking for suitable placement.
Contact : 0091-8089909265 (In-
dia), Email: [email protected]
Indian male, Kerala B.Com & B.PE,
looking for suitable Job in Sales,
Accounts, Admin etc. #93301023
email:- [email protected]
B.Com Graduate with 4 year expe-
rience as an Accountant in Oman.
Also have Oman Driving License.
Best fluency in English, Arabic,
Hindi& Malayalam. Looking for
Job. Currently in Oman. Cont: +968
93943448, [email protected]
Physiotherapist on visit visa
searching for a job. CONTACT
99767528 / 91317863
SOFTWARE DEVELOPER, Indian
Male, 24 years, B.Tech in computer
science.3Years of experience
in technical support, software
development, troubleshooting and
managing, seek suitable place-
ment. Contact GSM- 98184170
Commercial or Operation Man-
ager 18 yrs in Oman – finance,
purchase, sales, HR & Admin exp.
Contact: 99044724. E mail: srjob-
Indian Male,B.Com & Diploma
Logistics & supply chain man-
agement 2years experience
looking for job in Accounts/
logistics field. Presently on Visit
Visa. Software knows MS office
& Tally7.2 .MOBILE:93884951-
Email:[email protected]
Indian male BE Mechanical En-
gineer having 6 yrs exp in piping
and structural construction work,
looking suitable position, release
available. #96115463-email:
Indian male at a Managerial posi-
tion having 12 yrs exp in sales &
marketing, Property Management
looking for a suitable position,
MBA qualified with Oman driving
license. NOC available. #98125226
Indian male 31 yrs with over 10
yrs sales & marketing exp seeking
suitable placement NOC & Oman
D/L available in audition have
proficiency in Arabic language.
Contact:95760969
Export Manager/DM Indian
Male 38 Yrs B.Sc /CIPET 13 Yrs
Experience in Business Develop-
ment &Production with Oman D/L
seeks suitable placement. Contact
: 97221058 / 92058065, E-mail :
Electronics service Technician ,
4 Years experience as Electron-
ics service engineer. Knowledge
in all type of Electronics items.
Looking for suitable placement.
#99105043
B.A. in Accounting, Experience:
5years of Business/Accounts
tutoring and 2 years of Accounting
License: 70914186. #96389047,
Email: [email protected]
B.Com Graduate with 4 year expe-
rience as an Accountant in Oman.
Also have Oman Driving License.
Best fluency in English, Arabic,
Hindi & Malayalam, looking for
Job. Currently in Oman. Cont: +968
93943448, [email protected]
HSE Engineer: 3.8 years experi-
ence in Oil & Gas. NEBOSH,IOSH,
& NDT Certified, M Tech in
HSE,B Tech in Mechanical Engg.
Mobile- +91 9867016808
Looking for QHSE – Manager /
Asst. Manager job, Indian Male
– 39.Yrs, With 17.Yrs Experience
& NOC, NEBOSH – UK, MR – ISO
9001, 14001 & 18001, HSE Train-
ings, Audits, Pls Contact – haree.
MBA Indian male 2 years experi-
ence in firefighting & security sys-
tems sales & marketing. Seeking
suitable job. Contact – 90634050
INDIAN MALE, 26 years, BBA
graduate, seeks suitable position in
automotive spare parts, Have 3 year
experience. Phone no:96026400,
DAILY GUIDES U N D AY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6 D7
TOURS
TOURS
RENT A CAR
RENT A CAR
25 - 50 seater bus with PDO &
BP specification for monthly rent
& small car with driver. Contact
99839898
SITUATION WANTEDCARGO
Dolphin Watch, Dhow Cruise with Buffet, & Land Tours Al- Ainain Marine Tours contact 98029602, 92808636
We arrange tours & accommodation at all the beautiful places in Oman. Contact 99839898
SITUATION WANTEDBUSINESS
ONE STOP SHOP
BUSINESS SERVICES
Contact Saleh: 96723485
Public relation services (PRO), Formation new
companies, LLC companies, investor visa, business setup,
prepare business & companies accounts, legal
services, representing you and your company.
Driver available with car.#96728056
RENT A CARBest Rates for Saloon
Contact: 97869042 / 95730550
Electrical Contracting Company
with DCRP- D Grade license, Mus-
cat started in 2013, having running
projects available for sale or part-
nership. #00968 9604 5659
Looking for experienced person to
run a fully arranged Coffee shop in
Khuwair (behind Rawasco) with 7
visa available 99441122
ACC.WANTED
Looking for a villa in Amerat area.
Contact : 95405033
Required single room for an
executive lady (non cooking) in
Darsait, Ruwi, Wadi Kabir.
Contact - 98591132
Accommodation required with
food for 1 month, bachelor for
March month. Preferably Al Ghob-
rah area. Contact: 99335742
ACC WANTED
looking for a villa in Amirat area
Contact : 95405033
*Classified Advertisement space booking with text,
should be done till 12.00 noon
for next day’s publication. * Subject to space
availability
Investment RequiredMinimum OMR 500,000 for highly
profitable running Excavation
projects. Assured income 36 %.
Contact 98867530 / 99120532
Email : [email protected] MANPOWER
D8 S U N D AY, M A R C H 2 7, 2 0 1 6
DAILY GUIDE Email: [email protected] [email protected].: 24726666 Ext: 413 / 430 /431 / 456 / 461Fax: 24812624
SITUATION WANTEDSERVICES
SERVICESWe Provide Cleaners,
O e o s, Cleanin Con ra s, eneral leanin e
Al da ir Na onal Es LLC Con a 4277020
Window & split unit A.C servicing &
repairing. Contact: 99557080
Split & window unit A.C servicing &
maintenance. Contact: 96236476
Split & widow unit A.C servicing &
maintenance.contact 93769089 /
95323517
Split & window A/c servicing & main-
tenance. #93769089 / 95323517
GUARANTEED CLEANING: Carpet & sofa shampooing,
Contact 99314807/24792998
A/C maintenance & servicing,
fridge, washing machine & dish
washer repairing, painting & clean-
ing services, electrical & plumbing.
#99447257 / 97014234 / 24504281
A/C Technician, cold store, freez-
er, chiller all kinds of A/C & re-
frigeration installation & service.
Contact: 92279370 / 92459357
Water proofing ABUQABAS-
Contact 99320217/24788722
House shifting & transporting.
Contact 92490422
Building maintenance. #96173326
Pest control treatments, Ocean center LLC #99344723
MARBLE CRYSTALLIZATION restore the original shine of your
marble. #24793614/ 99314807
House shifting packing.
Contact: 99657644 / 98518013
House shifting. Contact: 99708138
Marble crystallization & grinding, cleaning & carpet shampooing.
Ocean center LLC.#99344723
Split A/C servicing R.O 10 only.
Contact: 94217681 / 99210141
Al farzdaq Al Fedi Trad and Cont
Maintenance services electric,
plumbing and A/C. Contact:
96524904 /94285064
Carpet Shampoo, marble & tile
polishing, pest control & anti-ter-
mite treatment, general cleaning
painting,Plumbing, Electrical,
shifting. Contact Mundhir
Al-Rizaiqi trading. L.L.C.
Contact: 24810137, 99450130
Pes on rol B ildin leanin all inds o es on rol
ildin Cleanin les Mar le olis in on l Yearl on ra s availa le
Con a 47 4740 Al sn Cleanin L L C
Fixed asset verification inventory
control software installation sup-
port services. Contact: 97703143
Marble Restoration, Mosaic tiles
polishing, carpet shampooing,
maintenance. Contact ABU QABAS-
99320217 /24788722
Marble crystallization & grinding, Ocean center LLC .#99344723
MISCELLANEOUS
SITUATION WANT-SIT. WANTED
Diploma(Electrical Engineering)
From Government polytechnic.
Age 27years, 6 years Experiance in
Maintenance, troubleshooting and
managing and Technical in substa-
tion as a Electrical Engineer.Seek
suitable placement. Contact GSM-
92995899,([email protected])
Mechanical Engineering 6 years
experience. Contact: 00968-
998907110091-9841867534
Email: sayed.fortuner88@gmail.
con
Bangladeshi male, University
MA, Working as Store In-charge
cum Logistic Manager in Mus-
cat; searching better job. Phone:
91997605, email: mohamednaz-
25 years, male B.Com and
insurance Graduate with 6 year
experience looking for an opening
in accounts, finance or operations
related only. Driving license and
NOC available. #lilommca@gmail.
com and 95236312.
Admin Assistant, Having 5 years
experience in admin department
in reputed companies, presently
working in Muscat (NOC Available).
GSM. 00968-98404122, Email -
Master’s in Petroleum Geology
looking for relevant job ready to
join ASAP, valid drivers license.
Email : mehdi.poorjahangiri@
gmail.com
IT/Telecom Manager, BE, MBA 13+
Years of experience, Valid Driving
License. Available immediately.
Phone: +91205211, Email: ghu-
S AT U R DAY, M A R C H 2 6, 2 0 1 6T I M E S O F O M A N S P E C I A L S U P P L E M E N T
BANGLADESHINDEPENDENCE & NATIONAL DAY 2016
PAGE 2 >
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PAGE 4 >
Bangladesh happy to be Oman’s partner in progress
Bangladesh off ers plenty of opportunities for investment
Cultural, heritage sites hold immense tourism potential
I N S I D E P A G E S
TODAY is March 26, the great In-dependence and National Day of Bangladesh. Forty-fi ve years back, our great leader, the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mu-jibur Rahman declared independ-ence on this very day. The Bengali heroes started the Liberation War at his clarion call.
On this auspicious Day, I pay deep reverence to the great hero of the War of Independence, the greatest Bengali of all times Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who led his people from the front in vari-ous movements and struggles from 1952 Language Movement to the 1971 Liberation War to the greatest achievement of Bengali nationhood-independent Bangladesh. With un-fathomable love and respect, I recall the supreme sacrifi ces made by our war heroes, the 3 million martyrs and the wounded freedom fi ghters.
My sympathy goes to those families who lost their near and dear ones during the Liberation War.
I also pay my gratitude to people from all walks of life and especially
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I CONVEY my heartiest greetings to my countrymen as well as to all expatriate Bangalees on the occasion of the great Independence and Na-tional Day of Bangladesh.
The 26th March is the day of earning self-identity of our na-tion. It’s the day of breaking the shackles of subjugation. On the eve of the Independence Day, I re-call with deep gratitude the great-est Bangalee of all time, Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, under whose dynamic leadership we earned our great independence.
I pay my deep homage to the three million martyrs and 200 thousand women who lost their innocence in the War of Liberation. I also pay my tributes to four national leaders who led the War of Liberation. My hom-age goes to the valiant freedom fi ght-ers, including the wounded ones. I extend my sympathies to those who had lost their near and dear ones,
and were subjected to brutal torture during the war. I recall with grati-tude our foreign friends who had ex-tended their whole-hearted support and cooperation for the cause of our liberation.
The occupation forces launched sudden attack and started killing in-
nocent and unarmed Bangalees on the black night of March 25, 1971. The Father of the Nation Bang-abandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman proclaimed the independence of Bangladesh at the fi rst hour of March 26, 1971. Bangabandhu’s proclama-tion was spread all over the country through telegrams, tele-printers and EPR wireless. The international me-dia also had circulated Bangaband-hu’s proclamation of independence.
Earlier, Bangabandhu in his historic address at the Suhra-wardy Udayn on March 7 made a fervent call of independence. He said, “The struggle of this time is for freedom, the struggle for this time for our independence.” He in-structed the Bangalee nation to re-sist the enemies. Under the brave and dauntless leadership of Bang-abandhu, we earned the ultimate victory on December 16, 1971 after a 9-month bloody war.
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O n the eve of our great Independence and National Day 2016, I extend my heartfelt greetings and warm
felicitations to my fellow country-men living at home and abroad.
The great Independence Day is a glorious occasion in our national life. On this historic day, I recall with profound respect Father of the Na-tion Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman who proclaimed country’s independence on March 26, 1971 af-ter inspiring the whole nation with Bangalee nationalism and prepar-ing them for independence for over two decades. Under his charismatic leadership, we achieved our much awaited independence through a nine-month long armed struggle. I pay my deep gratitude to the heroic martyrs who made supreme sacri-fi ces in the war of liberation. I also recall with deep reverence our four National Leaders, valiant freedom fi ghters, organizers, supporters and people from all walks of life for their
unmatched contributions and cou-rageous role that accelerated the process of our victory.
One of the prime objectives of our hard-earned independence was to build a happy and prosperous Bangladesh. Keeping that in mind, the government has been making untiring eff orts in materializing the objectives of independence. In the meantime, we have achieved notable progress in every sphere of our na-tional life. The country has attained food suffi ciency due to huge develop-ment in agriculture. Food grains are being exported at a small scale. Em-powerment of women is continuing. Maternal and child mortality rate has been reduced and life expectancy rate has simultaneously been raised. The mega project of constructing the Padma Bridge is underway by our own fund. At the same time we have also attained remarkable develop-ment in private sector. The country’s fi nancial sector along with banks and insurances has been expanded. Bangladesh is now being branded
as a role model of development throughout the world.
Our achievements in the inter-national arena are also commend-able. The longstanding land and maritime boundary dispute with India and Myanmar has been re-solved for our successful foreign policy based on “Friendship to all and malice towards none”. The mutual relations with the friendly
countries around the globe have been expanded and strength-ened. The contribution of Bang-ladesh in mitigating the negative impact of globe climate change along with protecting environ-ment is being acclaimed by the world community. Bangladeshi peacekeepers, under the auspices of the United Nations, have up-held the country’s image abroad presenting their professionalism and competence. Our expatri-ate Bangladeshis have also been making significant contributions to our national economy through sending their hard- earned remit-tances. Nevertheless, we have to go a long way for achieving the de-sired goals of independence. I be-lieved that sincere and concerted efforts from all strata irrespective of party affiliation are imperative to reach the goals.
Communal harmony is our tradi-tion. The people of our country do not support violence including mili-tancy and terrorism. They always
uphold peace and believe in coexist-ence. Exercising democratic norms and values, maintaining tolerance and fortitude and showing mutual respect are the preconditions for fl ourishing democracy. Therefore, we have to maintain patience, self-restraint, and forbearance along with showing respect to others, opinion in a democratic pluralism. We have to arouse our indomitable spirit of war of liberation and non-communal values. Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mu-jibur Rahman cherished a dream of transforming Bangladesh into ‘sonar Bangla’. The present govern-ment has set ‘Vision 2021’ and ‘Vi-sion 2041’ to make Bangladesh into a middle-income and a developed country respectively.
On this historic day of independ-ence, I urge all to make united ef-forts to accelerate overall develop-ment and democratic advancement of the country.
Khoda Hafez, May Bangladesh Live Forever. — Md. Abdul Hamid
Government committed to making Bangladesh developed country by 2041
Let’s build a prosperous Bangladesh Let’s ensure a better worldfor our future generations
Md. Abdul Hamid
Sheikh Hasina
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
PRIME MINISTER’S MESSAGE
FOREIGN MINISTER’S MESSAGE
Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, M.P
2 S AT U R DAY, M A R C H 2 6, 2 0 1 6
BAN
On the occasion of the 45th Anniversary of the Independence and National Day of Bangladesh on March
26, 2016, I extend my heartiest greetings and felicitations to all fel-low citizens of Bangladesh living in the Sultanate of Oman.
On this historic day, we pay our deepest tributes to the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mu-jibur Rahman, who proclaimed the country’s independence on March 26, 1971. After inspiring the whole nation and preparing them for inde-pendence over the decades, Bangla-desh achieved independence after nine months’ long war. I pay my deep homage to the heroic martyrs who made supreme sacrifi ces for the in-dependence of the country. This is an occasion for all of us not only to rejoice but to remind ourselves of the supreme sacrifi ces made by our valiant freedom fi ghters and mar-tyrs and also an occasion to renew our solemn resolve to live by the ide-als and values of the War of Libera-tion. On this glorious day we fondly remember the contribution and support of the global community and our friendly countries in the in-dependence of Bangladesh.
After the independence on De-cember 16, 1971, Bangladesh has achieved notable progress in every sphere of national life. We have achieved food suffi ciency. There is a steady growth of 6.5 percent, foreign currency reserve, progress in infra-structure development, substantial progress has also been made in hu-man resource development, women empowerment, electricity produc-tion, education, health and use of technology. After successful imple-mentation of Millennium Develop-ment Goals of the United Nations, Bangladesh has been acclaimed as a role model and she is now com-mitted to the objectives and realiza-tion of the sustainable development goals adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. The democratic
government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has been working to transform the country into a mid-dle income country by 2021 and de-velop country by 2041. Bangladesh has also received high appreciation from the world community for its commendable successes in achiev-ing MDGs, poverty reduction, wom-en empowerment, transformation of its economy and other sectors.
The present democratic govern-ment has pledged to implement ‘Vision 2021’ which aims to make the country, by then in its 50 years of independence, a self-reliant, poverty-free and prosperous nation having the status of a middle income country. The government is com-mitted to improving relations with the global community with special focus towards the neighbours and the Arab world. We are engaged with renewed interest and zeal to strengthen the partnership between the Sultanate and Bangladesh.
Bangladesh and Oman, two brotherly Muslim countries, over the years have forged excellent rela-tions based on mutual interests and enduring values and ideals. Bang-ladesh deeply values its relations with the Sultanate of Oman. In the pursuit of boosting our bilateral re-lations with Oman, the most signifi -cant progress has been made in the recent years. There were a number of high level ministerial visits from Bangladesh to Oman and similarly there were visits of Omani delega-tions to Bangladesh. Oman has set up their full fl edged embassy in Dhaka in 2013.
Md. Shahriar Alam, MP, State Minister for Foreign Aff airs, paid an offi cial visit to the Sultanate in April 2015. The visit marks a new phase in bilateral relations between the two countries through signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on political consultation.
Bangladesh and Oman have fi nal-ized an agreement on the promotion and reciprocal protection of invest-ment after successful consultation
and visits by both the sides which is expected to be signed by the end of this year.
A 23-member National Defence College (NDC) delegation visited Oman in September 2015 as a part of NDC’s study tour. The National Defense College of Oman hosted the visit.
A seven-member Bangladesh business delegation visited Oman in November 2015 to participate in the third edition of Business Opportu-nities Forum upon invitation from the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI).
Bangladesh is happy to be one of the partners in terms of expa-triate workforce in the Sultanate. We are grateful to the government of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said for generously laying its trust in the abilities of the nationals of the brotherly nation, Bangladesh, which paved the way for our pro-fessionals and workers to contrib-ute to the sustained development of the Sultanate in friendship, peace and harmony for the mutual benefi ts of both countries. The contribution of Bangladeshis in the agriculture sector in Oman has won special recognition.
Both Bangladesh and Oman can benefi t by strengthening the rela-tions particularly in the fi elds of trade, commerce, investment and
agriculture. Regular exchange of visits between the trade bodies, chambers, business groups of two countries and participation in each other’s trade fairs would be im-mensely benefi cial in that regard.
Bangladesh can off er a basket of products competitive both in terms of price and quality such as garments and knitwear, medicines, tea, leather and leather products, plastics, ceramics etc. On the other hand, Oman can consider Bangla-desh as a potential destination to ex-port petroleum products, chemical products and the like. Also, invest-ments or joint ventures may be eyed in the areas of oil and gas, power, sea port development, infrastructure, telecommunications, textile, light engineering, agro-based industries, refi nery and shipping etc.
Bangladesh off ers attractive in-vestment opportunities for foreign companies and maintains perhaps the most investor-friendly regula-tory regime in South Asia. The key factors for foreign investors include
i. Trainable, enthusiastic, hard-working and low-cost (even by re-gional standards) labour force with great resilience in a largely homoge-neous society.
ii. Potentially signifi cant market, especially with prospective access to South Asia.
iii. Electricity, telecommunica-
tion, gas and water facilities. iv. Infrastructure, including up-
graded ports, railways and airports facilities.
Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) is en-trusted with the development, and management of special demarcated areas in the public sector known as EPZs for establishing industries for foreign investors. The facilities and incentive package off ered by BE-PZA are highly competitive. These facilities are off ered under certain fl exible terms and conditions and, mainly include: Land and factory buildings are available for rent, one-stop service for all necessities, export and import permits issued in one day, work permits for foreign nationals, Recreational facilities for foreign nationals, tax holiday, ex-emption of income tax, avoidance of double taxation, complete exemp-tion from dividend tax, duty free import and export facilities, pro-ject expansion and product diver-sifi cation, local and international banking facilities, equal rights with Bangladeshi nationals for foreign employees etc.
On this occasion I would also like to avail the opportunity to convey my sincere greetings and good wish-es to the brotherly people of Oman in their endeavour of continued progress under the blessed Renais-
sance of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said, may Allah protect him. Un-der his wise and present leadership the Sultanate has reached a digni-fi ed position in the world commu-nity. His Majesty’s policies of peace and development have helped the world in general and the neighbor-ing countries in particular, in bring-ing about settlement of long stand-ing disputes and leave together with peace and harmony. We pray to al-mighty Allah for His Majesty’s good health, personal well-being and long life so that His Majesty can lead his beloved nation for many more years to come.
I would like to convey my deep gratitude to the brotherly people of the Sultanate, diff erent ministries of the government for extending to me all courtesies, cooperation and support in carrying out my as-signment. The Ministry of Foreign Aff airs, the Ministry of Manpower and the Ministry of Home Aff airs, particularly Royal Oman Police and the Immigration, are extending all possible support to our Mission and our community.
I also urge upon our compatriot Bangladeshis in Oman to follow and respect the rules, regulations, values and traditions of Oman and try their best to live up to the ex-pectations of their employers with fullest sincerity. I am also grateful to our fellow Bangladeshis for their understanding and cooperation with me and my mission while en-deavoring to improve the bilateral relations and enhance the image of Bangladesh in Oman.
I am certain that relations be-tween Bangladesh and the Sul-tanate of Oman would further strengthen in future for the mutual benefi t and continued success of both the nations.
Finally, I would like to convey my best wishes to His Majesty the Sultan, the people of the Sultanate and Bangladesh peace, progress and prosperity. May Almighty Allah bless us all. — Sheikh Sekander Ali
Bangladesh quite happy to beOman’s partner in progress
AMBASSADOR’S MESSAGE
Sheikh Sekander Ali
The independ-ence earned through supreme sacrifi ces of
millions of people is the greatest achievement of Bangalee nation. To ensure that this achievement remains meaningful, all should know the history of our great lib-eration war and retain the spirit of independence. The history should be passed on from generation to generations.
Whenever Bangladesh Awami League formed government, it re-mained committed to developing the country and the nation uphold-ing the spirit of our great independ-ence and freedom struggle. During the last seven years, we have im-plemented vast development pro-grammes in all sectors, including agriculture, education, health, law and order, information technology, energy and power, communica-
tions, sports, foreign relations ur-ban and rural development, human development, social safety-net and women development. As a result, our purchasing capacity, per capita income, foreign currency reserve, export, investment and employ-ment have multiplied manifold. Bangladesh has emerged as a role model of development. Various countries and organizations, in-cluding the UN, have lauded Bang-ladesh and honoured.
We have implemented the verdict of the killing case of Bangabandhu and most of his family members. The verdicts of cases against those who committed crimes against hu-manity are also being implement-ed. The defeated anti-liberation, communal forces are still engaged in undoing the democratic and de-velopment process of the country. On this auspicious day, I urge the countrymen to foil any plot of the
evil-forces together. We are committed to reaching
the fruits of the independence to every nook and cranny. Our target is to turn Bangladesh into a mid-dle-income country by 2021, and a developed and prosperous one by 2041. We have been striving to ac-complish the target.
I hope that all citizens of our country would engage themselves with their utmost sincerity, hones-ty and dedication to build Bangla-desh as a peaceful, non-communal, developed and prosperous country and help place it on a prestigious position in the comity of nations.
Let us take a fresh vow to build a Golden Bangla as dreamt by the Father of the Nation being im-bued with the spirit of the war of liberation.
Joi Bangla, Joi Bangabandhu. May Bangladesh Live Forever.— Sheikh Hasina
Prime Minister’s Message
T I M E S O F O M A N S P E C I A L S U P P L E M E N T 3
NGLADESH INDEPENDENCE & NATIONAL DAY 2016
Since its birth, Bengal has harboured the free spirit of entrepreneurs. The muslin, spices and other premium prod-
ucts have their exclusive market all over the globe. Before coloni-sation by the British, Bengal was considered the fourth largest ex-porting country in the world.
The balance of trade has always tilted towards Bengal since coloni-sation. Things changed as the eco-nomic instruments were destroyed.
In the recent years, the economy of Bangladesh has made a fair turn. The growth of economy is persistent for the last decade, registering 6 per cent growth and promising to reach 7 per cent in the years to come.
Bangladesh is now trying to establish itself as the next rising star in South Asia for foreign in-vestment. The government has implemented a number of policy reforms designed to create a more open and competitive climate for private investment, both foreign and local.
The country has been quick to undertake major restructuring for establishing a market economy, a key role played by the private sec-tor. Its current development strat-egy is based on the creation and distribution of wealth through the acceleration of growth driven by competitive market forces, with the government facilitating growth.
The government has moved speedily to translate its vision of becoming a MIC (Middle Income Country) by 2021 through policy plans, such the ‘7th Five-Year Plan,’ ‘Perspective Plan,’ the ‘Na-tional Social Security Strategy (NSSS),’ and appropriate Sustain-able Development Goals, etc.
Bangladesh has consistently pursued an open-door investment policy and playing a catalytic role in augmenting private investment.
For that regulatory controls and constrains have been reduced to a minimum. The government has steadily liberalised its trade re-gime.
Signifi cant progress has been achieved in reducing non-tariff restrictions on trade, rationalising tariff rates and improving export incentives.
On the legal and administrative front, the government has initi-ated measures to impart greater autonomy and independence to the judiciary—a pre-requisite for investors, which is needed for the restoration of confi dence in the ju-dicial system.
Relevant commercial laws, such as the Company Law, securities laws has been updated and mod-ernised. The fi nancial reporting act has been passed to ensure trans-parency in fi nancial reporting. The Industrial Relations Act has been amended to enhance the labour market’s effi ciency. Various pro-investor measures are being under-taken to match the global pace.
Why Bangladesh?A winning combination: Bangla-desh is a winning combination for the competitive market, given its business-friendly environ-ment and competitive cost struc-ture that can give you the best returns.
Strong growth prospects: The value of the economy of Bangla-desh is currently pegged at $170 billion, which according to the International Monetary Fund will rise to $322 billion, creating enor-mous economic opportunities.
Considerable population of educated and motivated youth•• 57 per cent of the population is
under 25 years old•• High literacy rate (72 per cent)
among youth aged 15 to 24 years•• Inspired young, hungry for work
and growth•• 2 million youth entering the job
market each year
Strategic location,regional connectivityand worldwide accessBangladesh is strategically lo-cated next to India, China and the ASEAN (Association of South-east Asian Nations) markets. As the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) comes into force, inves-tors in Bangladesh will enjoy duty-free access to India, along with EU (European Union), Japan and other developed countries.
Strong local marketand growthBangladesh has proved to be an at-tractive investment location with its 170 million-strong population and consistent economic growth for a decade leading to strong and growing domestic demand.
Low cost of energy: Energy pric-es in Bangladesh are the most com-petitive in the region
Proven export competitiveness: Bangladesh enjoys tariff -free ac-cess to the European Union, Can-ada and Japan. In Europe, Bang-ladesh enjoys 60 per cent of the RMG market share and is one of the top manufacturing exporters.
Competitive incentives: Bang-ladesh off ers the most liberal FDI (foreign direct investment) re-gimes in South Asia, allowing 100 per cent foreign equity with unre-stricted exit policy, remittance of royalty and repatriation of equity and dividend.
Export and economic zones: Bangladesh offers export ori-ented industrial enclaves, with infrastructural facilities and logistical support for foreign investors. Building an economic
zone is currently in process. The country is also developing its core infrastructure, roads, high-ways, surface transport and port facilities for a better business environment.
Positive environment: It has a largely homogenous society with people living in harmony, irrespective of race and religion. Bangladesh is a democratic coun-try enjoying broad bi-partisan political support for private in-vestment. A legal and policy framework for business is condu-cive for foreign investment.
Increasing trade integration Labour cost advantage (less than half the average of other Asian economies)
Already the second largest gar-ments exporter globally, with other sectors coming up, such as IT outsourcing, ceramics, light engineering, etc.
Progress on SAFTA,BIMSTEC talksIncreasing urbanisation: The ur-banisation rate is fast; and it will double over the next four decades. With the help of rapid industri-alisation, infrastructure devel-opment and demographic shifts, Dhaka will become the world’s fi fth largest city, with a population of 19 million by 2019. (U.N. fore-cast)
Why invest in Bangladesh?Policies and reforms•• Continued reforms taking place
that embrace the best global practices
•• A positive attitude among policy makers towards undertaking re-forms for business growth
•• A special high-level committee working for policy and regulatory improvement
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Bangladesh off ers plenty of opportunities for investmentO n the occasion of 26th
March, the great Inde-pendence and National
Day of Bangladesh, my sincere greetings to all Bengalis living at home and abroad.
On this very day, I recall with deep reverence our great leader and Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman by whose clarion call the Bengalis started the War of Liberation. I pay my homage to our 3 million martyrs and 2 hun-dred thousand mothers and sisters whose supreme sacrifi ce and dis-honor ushered us an independent and sovereign Bangladesh colored in red and green. My respectful salute goes to all freedom fi ghters including the wounded war heroes on this auspicious moment of Inde-pendence Day. I express profound gratitude to all foreign friends, ex-patiate Bangladeshis, members of diplomatic front who accelerated our victory by extending all possi-ble support during Liberation War of Bangladesh.
March 26 is the day of breaking the shackles of subjugation. On this day, the Bengalis protested against the misrule, exploitation and oppres-sion. Our war heroes took up arms at the call of the Father of the Nation. Before that, on March 7, 1971, Bang-abandhu in his historic speech at the then Race-Course Maidan (present Sohrawardy uddyan) declared, “The struggle this time is the struggle for our emancipation; the struggle this time is the struggle for libera-tion.” Being started on March 26, the bloody war ended fruitfully through the emergence of an independent and sovereign Bangladesh.
March 26 is a day to remem-ber the great leader Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, war he-roes and their contributions as well as to take oath to realise the spirit of our Liberation War which moti-vated the Bengali Nation to make supreme sacrifi ces. This is also an occasion to introduce our new gen-eration to the true history of our Liberation War.
The government of Prime Minis-ter Sheikh Hasina has been working tirelessly to materialise the dream of the Father of the Nation for a
secular as well as hunger and pov-erty-free prosperous Bangladesh. As a result, Bangladesh is march-ing forward with $1,316 per capita income, more than 6.5% growth rate and $28 billion of foreign cur-rency reserves. Progress in infra-structure development, electricity production, education and health sectors, women empowerment, use of technology, human resource development, expansion of social safety net, successful implementa-tion of the Millennium Develop-ment Goals of the United Nations, new dimension in foreign relations — all are bringing change in Bang-ladesh. Today, Bangladesh is a role model to the outer world. These changes in Bangladesh are towards prosperity and welfare, and you, my expatiate brothers and sisters, are a part of this onward movement. Today $13 billion of remittances is the outcome of your love for the motherland as well as your families. These remittances are contribut-ing signifi cantly to the development process of Bangladesh.
To keep up with this pace of de-velopment we all will be working unitedly under “Vision 2021” de-clared by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina to transform Bangladesh into a middle income country by 2021 and follow the path of develop-ment to take Bangladesh to the level of a developed country by 2041. We pledge this on our 46th Independ-ence and National Day.
Joy bangla, Joy Bangabandhu.— Md. Shahriar Alam, MP
MESSAGE OF STATE MINISTERFOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Md. Shahriar Alam, MP
Bangladesh has become a role model to the world
the members of the diplomatic front who, dur-ing and after our
Liberation War, put in a very coura-geous role that created the ground for obtaining moral, fi nancial and military support from global com-munity in favour of the Liberation War. Enormous contributions from our foreign friends have been writ-ten in golden letters in the history of the emergence of Bangladesh. We are privileged to recognize their contribution and bestow honour.
Bangabandhu’s daughter and Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has declared ‘Vision-2021’ in line with the spirit of Liberation War and the dream of the Father of the Na-tion Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman to build a ‘Sonar Bangla’ (Golden Bengal) to achieve people’s socio-economic emancipation and to build a poverty and hunger-free
prosperous country. In its second consecutive term, the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina is now working to transform the coun-try into a middle income country by 2021 and a developed country by 2041. Bangladesh has already at-tained the status of a lower middle income country in the World Bank index and is on track to become mid-dle income country well before 2021.
After successful completion of the ‘Millennium Development Goals’ (MDGs) in which Bangladesh has been acclaimed as a ‘role model’, we are now committed to the objec-tives and realization of the ‘Sustain-able Development Goals’ (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations Gen-eral Assembly. With Prime minister Sheikh Hasina at the helm of aff airs as an acclaimed ‘Global Leader’, Bangladesh is ready to take up the challenges of achieving the sustain-able development goals.
On this day, I thank all the mem-bers of the Ministry of Foreign Af-fairs and our Missions abroad who have been working with sustained dedication and commitment in achieving our foreign policy objec-tives and promoting national in-terest of Bangladesh on the world stage. I also congratulate Bang-ladesh Diaspora in every corner of the world which is immensely contributing to the strengthening of the image of Bangladesh — they are our true ‘Ambassadors’. Their contribution to the economy is also gratefully acknowledged.
On this historic day, Let us make a renewed pledge to devote our-selves to work form our respective positions imbued with the spirit of Liberation War to build a ‘Sonar Bangla’ and also a better world for our future generations.
Joy Bangla, Joy Bangabandhu.— Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali, M.P
Foreign Minister’s Message
4 S AT U R DAY, M A R C H 2 6, 2 0 1 6 T I M E S O F O M A N S P E C I A L S U P P L E M E N T
BANGLADESH INDEPENDENCE & NATIONAL DAY 2016
Cultural, heritage sites holdimmense tourism potential
Appealing incentives•• Off ering a whole range of invest-
ment incentives and benefi ts•• All fi scal, fi nancial and other
types of incentives are competi-tive among similar locations
Market access•• Bangladesh has a large domestic
market of more than 160 million•• Middle class (with purchasing
power) is growing fast•• Has access to regional market of
about 3 billion people through re-gional and bilateral integration in South Asia
•• Bangladesh has preferred market access (global reach) to large de-veloped markets
•• ASEAN/East Asian investors can utilise Bangladesh as an export springboard for the world
Praise for BangladeshCiti Investment Research and Analysis has termed Bangladesh, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Mongolia, Nigeria, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Vietnam as having the most promising (per capita) growth prospects.
Goldman Sachs included Bang-ladesh in its “Next 11” list after the BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and Chi-na) nations.
The IMF has commented on the economy of Bangladesh as resilient export and remittance fl ows have bol-stered growth and external stability.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) has dismissed the previous branding of Bangladesh saying, “Basket Case No More”—with a higher growth rate, a lower birth rate, and a more in-ternationally competitive economy.
JPMorganChase said Bangla-desh, the country ranks fourth in growth, with an economically active population.
Morgan Stanley is of the view that Bangladesh is in the very early stag-es of an investment boom.
The New York Times has termed Bangladesh as “an unlikely corner of Asia, with a strong promise of growth.”
An HSBC report (2012), entitled “The World in 2050,” listed Bangla-desh as one of the top seven coun-
tries expected to deliver the fastest growth en-route to 2050.
The “World Economic Situation and Prospects 2013” of the United Nations said “…strong growth per-formances are continuing…” in Bangladesh.
The Global Competitive Report 2013 of the World Economic Forum (WEF) reported that Bangladesh has been elevated by eight stages point this year.
In its latest survey, McKinsey & Co. said „Bangladesh is still No. 1,” as the global sourcing hub for RMG.
Deutsche Bank AG, Germany commented that Bangladesh has a robust economic growth pattern, comfortable buff er against external shocks, and a favourable external li-quidity profi le.
The World Bank July 1, 2015, categorised Bangladesh as a Low Middle Income Country (LMIC), up from being a Low Income Country (LIC).
Investment climate The broad investment climate of Bangladesh is very much conducive for investors. The successive gov-ernment of Bangladesh has given highest priority to augmenting pri-vate investment in Bangladesh. The regime is considered as the most competitive in South Asia.
There is no restriction on the amount of share of investment. For-eign investors are eligible to take advantage of a wide range of gener-ous tax concessions and other fi scal incentives and facilities.
Investment in Bangladesh is secured vis-à-vis nationalisation and expropriation. To facilitate in-vestment, Bangladesh is a signato-ry of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) of the World Bank Group, the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) of the United States and International Centre for Settle-ment of Investment Disputes (IC-SID) and also a member of World Association of Investment Promo-tion Agencies (WAIPA), World In-tellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and World Trade Organi-zation (WTO).
•• Bangladesh is one of the top ex-porters of readymade garments to the United States and Europe
•• Risk factors for FDI are a mini-mum in Bangladesh
•• Bangladesh never posted negative economic growth during the past 30 years
•• Bangladesh has ‘never defaulted in its debt repayments, nor asked for its rescheduling’
•• Bangladesh has an open, market-based economy led by a vibrant and innovative private sector, which provides the main stimulus for its growth
•• Bangladesh is a homogeneous country with no religious, ethnic or other forms of cultural confl icts
•• Bangladesh makes one of the larg-est contributors to the United Na-tions’ peacekeeping forces and missions and the record of Bangla-deshi forces have been exemplary and laudable
Attractive Incentives Schemes Bangladesh off ers the most attrac-tive investment incentives across sectors and locations.
Fiscal and Tax Incentives•• Tax holiday: Five to seven years
for selected sectors up to 10 years for infrastructure, up to 12 years for economic zones
•• Accelerated depreciation in lieu of tax holiday
•• Double tax avoidance under DTTs•• Tariff concessions on importing
capital machinery and import of raw materials
•• Bonded warehousing
Others:•• Fast-track approvals for citizenship•• Permanent Residency•• Quick Immigration•• Skilled Work Permits•• NRB Preferences
Financial Incentives•• Cash incentives •• Exporting selected products•• Export Development Fund•• Equity Entrepreneurship Fund•• Access to infra fund facilities
(IPFF)
Bangladesh offers plenty of opportunities for investment
ZIAUL HAQUE HOWLADER
History has revealed that Bangladesh has been the cradle of civilisation, a cen-tre of cultural diff u-
sion, since the dawn of the history of mankind.
It was the meeting ground for various peoples in diff erent states of civilization, the most primitive, as well as the most advanced. The cultural history of Bangladesh is one of the greatest and glorious her-itages, which every Bangladeshi is legitimately proud of. Each phase of the history of Bangladesh has its distinct characteristics and every race of people, who came and settled here, left its individual, racial, reli-gious or cultural impact in the form of temples, stupas, monasteries and mosques, along with their associ-ated objects.
Bangladesh is a country of diverse attractions, bountiful nature and friendly millions, with more than a millennium of cultural heritage. The landscape of Bangladesh looks like a magical tapestry in green woven in-tricately by nature and crisscrossed by a network of several major rivers and their numerous tributaries and canals. In fact, Bangladesh is the largest riverine delta in the world. The extensive river systems are, thus, fundamental to the country’s economy and the people’s way of life.
In Bangladesh, the cultural land-marks of antiquity range from the 3rd century B.C. to the 19th century A.D. At the time of independence, the total number of monuments and sites protected in the then East Pakistan under the Ancient Monument Preservation Act was 80, whereas, the number has now increased to 345. The Department of Archaeology in Bangladesh, the government agency responsible for the preservation and conservation of cultural property in the coun-try, has not only protected these monuments, but has also taken the responsibility to conserve them
through specialised methods so that these are preserved in their original features for the posterity.
Basically an agricultural country, Bangladesh is also steadily march-ing towards industrialisation with investment from home and abroad. Bangladesh is literally a multi-facet-ed cultural collage. Its deep-rooted heritage is amply refl ected in its ar-chitecture, literature, dance, drama, music and painting. Infl uenced by great religion—Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity—Bang-ladesh has been a melting pot of diverse races and a confl uence of civilisations.
Sculpture, tapestry, and engrav-ings have developed along the main stream of contemporary art, drama, mainly of an indigenous origin, which has distinct features. Panto-mime, puppet, theatre, caricature, acrobatics and circuses have their own novelties. The music of Bangla-desh has developed through centu-ries, along the three mainstreams—folk, modern and classical. Folk, tribal and classical are the promi-
nent forms of dance.Fairs and festivals, both religious
and social, always play a signifi cant role in the life of the people of Bang-ladesh. The Bengali New Year’s Day, Independence Day, National Mar-tyr’s Day, the International Mother Language Day, Eid-ul-fi tr, Eid-ul Azha, Durga Puja, Christmas Day, and Buddha Purnima are a few such occasions worth mentioning. Beside these, various fairs and exhibitions are held throughout the country around the year.
The cultural resources of Bangla-desh for tourism, such as the visual and performing arts, crafts, tradi-tional dress, ceremonies, architec-ture and lifestyle is being techno-logically developed, interpreted and managed. These are also signifi cant aspects of the cultural heritage of a particular area of Bangladesh, which is being preserved for the benefi t of residents. In many places, cultural traditions are being lost be-cause of the infl uence of modern de-velopment in general. Cultural tour-ism can be an important vehicle for
revitalising and conserving, often on a selective basis, these cultural traditions, because they are attrac-tions for tourists.
Bangladesh, at present, is ap-plying new technologies in the presentation and interpretation of historic and cultural sites to draw more tourists. For a country like Bangladesh, where culture and tradition are unique, variant and having long historical background and signifi cance, installation of adoptable technology is neces-sary. Hence, Bangladesh is trying its level best to apply more modern technologies in the presentation and interpretation of historic and cultural sites to visit.
Visual arts and crafts are im-portant attractions for tourists and can be a source of income for residence in the tourist areas, in-cluding people living in village and rural areas. For the authenticity of local arts and craft, these arts re-fl ect local designs, materials and craft skills.
The whole of Bangladesh is fa-
mous for arts and craft. Bangladesh has developed some special art centres, such as Dhamrai, Comilla, Sonargaon, Rajshahi, which are fa-mous for their local art and craft. Government has taken some insti-tutional measures for developing and marketing diff erent sorts of visual arts and crafts.
Cultural tourism can also provide a market for the contemporary art of paintings and sculpture that are well developed in many places, often through university educational pro-grammes of Bangladesh. Contem-porary art is being sold to tourists at art galleries located independently or in hotels and at special exhibits. Various art and craft exhibitions are regularly held in diff erent galleries, hotels, and motels of Bangladesh.
A common and often successful approach for presentation and sales of arts and craft is the development of integrated craft centres or “vil-lages.” The government of Bangla-desh has plans to set up such type of centres or villages, especially at Sonargaon in the near future. These centres will be designed in the lo-cal traditional architectural style and will contain a large number of shops, demonstrations of arts and crafts production, snacks bars, res-taurants and other tourist facilities.
Traditional dance, music and drama performances of Bangladesh are also of much interest to many tourists. There are also institutional training programmes in Bangladesh that ensure high quality levels of performances. Bangladesh, being a newly tourism-developed country, puts forth the best eff ort to fi nd out the techniques for the management and marketing of its tourism at his-toric and cultural sites, with partic-ular reference to mass destinations.
The traditional music in Bangla-desh shares the perspectives of that of the Indian sub-continent. Music in Bangladesh can be divided into three distinct categories—classi-cal, folk and modern. The classical music, both vocal and instrumental, is rooted in the past of the sub-con-
tinent. Ustad Alauddin Khan and Ustad Ayet Ali Khan are two names in classical instrumental music, who are internationally known. The store of folk songs abounds in the spiritual lyrics of Lalan Shah, Hasan Raja, Romesh Shill and many anon-ymous lyricists. The Bangla music arena is enriched with Jari, Shari, Bhatiali, Murshidi and other types of folk songs. Rabindra Sangeet and Nazrul Sangeet are Bengalis’ pre-cious heritage. Modern music is also practiced widely. Contemporary patterns have more of an inclina-tion for the west. Pop song and band groups are also coming up mainly in Dhaka City.
Bangladesh also has a rich tradi-tion for art. Specimens of ancient terracotta and pottery show re-markable artistry. Modern painting was pioneered by artists, such as Zainul Abedin, Qamrul Hasan and S.M. Sultan. Zainul Abedin and S.M. Sultan earned worldwide fame for their stunning sketches of the Ben-gal Famine in 1943. Other famous artists of Bangladesh are Abdur Razzak, Qayyum Chowdhury, Mur-taza Baseer, Aminul Islam, Debdas Chakraborty, Kazi Abdul Baset, Syed Jahangir, and Mohammad Kibria.
The earliest available specimen of Bengali literature is about 1000 years old. During the mediaeval pe-riod, Bengali Literature developed considerably with the patronage of Muslim rulers. Chandi Das, Daulat Kazi and Alaol are some of the fa-mous poets of the period. The era of modern Bengali Literature be-gan in the late 19th century with Rabindranath Tagore, the Nobel Laureate, being a vital part of Ben-gali culture. Kazi Nazrul Islam, Michael Madhusudan Datta, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhaya, Bankim Chandra Chattopadhaya, Mir Mosharraf Hossain and Kazi Ahdul Wadud are the pioneers of modern Bengali literature.
(Ziaul Haque Howlader is a tourism analyst and senior deputy manager, Bangladesh Parjatan Corporation).