On 26 November 2024, the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung (KAS)’s Regional Programme Gulf States and Smart Investment Gateway (SIG) held a forum on “Decentralisation and its Role in Economic Diversification and Employment Generation in the Omani Governorates.” The event was hosted by the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The forum sought to discuss how Germany’s federal system could serve as a model for Oman’s ambitious reforms under the Sultanate’s Vision 2040. A pillar of this national vision is decentralisation, through which the country intends to promote economic diversification and balanced development across the governorates of the Sultanate.
In his opening remarks, H.E. Shaikh Faisal Abdallah Al-Rawas, President of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, welcomed the audience of over 200 guests to the Forum. He explained the Chamber’s role in offering platforms for constructive discussions that can guide Oman as it seeks to accomplish its Vision 2040 and decentralisation agenda.
Philipp Dienstbier, Director of the Regional Programme Gulf States, focused in his opening remarks on KAS’s connections to German members of parliament, as well as the organisation’s status as Germany’s only political foundation with a programme dedicated to the Gulf. In addition to providing a platform for Oman to learn from Germany’s experience with federalism, he expressed hope that the Forum would be a “meeting of the minds” that presents learning opportunities for both countries.
In his keynote speech, H.H. Dr Adham Al Said, Chairman of the Sultanate’s Economic Committee and Assistant Professor at Sultan Qaboos University, placed Oman’s decentralisation agenda within the context of Vision 2040. He highlighted that delegating authority to the governorates and local councils has the potential to improve public services and use of local resources, strengthen local voices, and increase transparency.
In the presentation that followed, Prof. Dr Klaus Schubert – Chair for German Politics at the University of Münster – highlighted that German federalism is based on a functional distribution of competences, according to which the federal states implement legislation while the central government maintains legislative authority. The ensuing panel discussion delved deeper into the delegation of competencies between different levels of government in Oman and Germany, as well as the importance of developing fora for the resolution of conflicts of interest arising between the constituent states of a decentralised governmental system.
To open the second panel, Dr Simon Gerards Iglesias from the German Economic Institute discussed the decentralised development of clusters of SME suppliers of intermediate goods in the vicinity of Germany’s largest industrial companies. Next, Shaikh Saeed bin Rashid Al-Qatabi, Director General of Social Sectors at Oman’s Ministry of Economy, discussed the imperative of regional economic development within the context of the Sultanate’s Vision 2040. In the ensuing panel discussion, both reflected upon the complementarities between the German experience of decentralised industrial development and Oman’s vision for economic diversification.
On 27 November, SIG and KAS’s German delegation consisting of Philipp Dienstbier, Nicolas Reeves, Dr Simon Gerards Iglesias, and Dr Klaus Schubert attended a series of meetings focused on economic diversification and development in Muscat. They first met H.E. Ibtisam Al-Faroujia, Undersecretary for Investment Promotion at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion. Next, the delegation toured the German University of Technology, where they met Prof. Dr Michael Braun and Dr Hussain Sulaiman Al Salmi, the university’s Rector and Deputy Rector, respectively. The visit to Muscat concluded with a conversation about German-Omani relations with Dirk Lölke, Germany’s Ambassador to the Sultanate.
