Oman ranks high in the list of Arab achievers

SALALAH, August 25 - Oman ranks high in the list of Arab achievers as the country got praise from International Federation of Arab and African Achievers during a recently concluded meeting on ethical forum in Salalah. Major General Sameh Lutfi, President of the International Federation of Arab and African Achievers, announced that the Supreme Committee of the ‘Arab Achievers World Cup’ has chosen the Sultanate the Guest of Honour for its first edition which is to be held in December this year. “This is in recognition of the achievements made by the Sultanate under the leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos,” he said, and added that the December gathering would be the largest gathering of Arab achievers from various fields. “The most important goal of the Arab Federation is to monitor and document the works of the Arab achievers and shed light on success stories with a view to developing a culture of recognising the real achievers and championing the cause of people with special needs,” said Major General Lutfi. The achievement from the Sultanate documented first in the first edition of the Arab Achievers encyclopedia was Salalah Airport in 2015. “Our recognition was substantiated later by the media and other expert groups that also gave due recognition to the airport,” he said. Early this year Salalah Airport became the first regional airport in the Middle East with a five-star ranking and was granted at the Skytrax 2019 World Awards held at the London Convention and Exhibition Centre. Launched in 2015, the first edition of Arab Achievers encyclopedia was an attempt to document the achievements in the form of a book containing major achievements throughout the year. “The Sultanate’s achievements kept getting featured in the subsequent editions of the encyclopedia prominently. It featured the achievement of the Sultan’s Armed Forces team in shooting competition for winning first place in the British Army and British National Union tournaments in 2017. It recorded the achievements of the Sultan’s Army team for winning the World Military Football Championship in 2017 and the Sultanate’s National Museum was registered as the first museum in the Middle East to introduce Braille for visually impaired people.” Among many cases of women empowerment, the encyclopedia featured the first Omani woman, Lt Col Sheikha al Hambashiya for running a police station and Basma al Hashimiya, the first Omani woman to be a naval officer. Maj Gen Lutfi said he was thrilled to see the achievements done by Oman and its ideals of tolerance, peace and high morality that allowed people to live a decent life without conflicts, hassle or hostility under the wise leadership and modern Renaissance. “It is always amazing to see the beauty of European cities for their cleanliness, elegance and prosperity. But what I see in Salalah is something great. It is a beauty evolved from a great civilisation that makes me emphasise that this wonderful city was rightly crowned as ‘Capital of Arab Summer Resorts’ by the Arab Tourism Organisation.”