Shura ratifies draft amendments

MUSCAT: Majlis Ash’shura approved a set of draft and proposed laws in addition to reports of the standing committees during its 13^th ordinary meeting of the second annual sitting of the eighth term (2019-2023) held under the chairmanship of Khalid bin Hilal al Maawali, Chairman of Majlis Ash’shura, on Tuesday.

The session saw the presentation of 3 urgent statements, the first of which was presented by Ali bin Salim al Jabri, member of the Media and Culture Committee and representative of the Wilayat of Muscat. It was about new regulations for granting government land plots.

Hilal bin Hamad al Sarmi, head of the Health and Environment Committee, representative of the Wilayat of Seeb, presented an urgent statement aimed at reducing the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In his statement, Al Sarmi suggested a number of important points to contain the pandemic and mitigate its impact.

Yaqoub bin Mohammed al Rahbi, member of the Education and Scientific Research Committee, representative of the Wilayat of Bidbid, presented an urgent statement on Oman’s Vision 2040.

In his statement, Al Rahbi raised a number of questions about the government’s evaluation of performance and results of Oman’s Vision 2020 and the challenges that faced it.

During the meeting, the council approved the amendments of some provisions of the Civil Status Law.

Dr. Mohammed bin Ibrahim al Zedjali, head of the Legal and Legislative Committee, said the amendments of the Civil Status Law derive their importance from the implementation of the decision of the Supreme National Committee for e-Census of Population, Housing, and Establishments, which involved an approval for amending the Civil Status Law by issuing ID card for children aging 10 years. He added that the ID card has become a means for accomplishing a lot of transactions and also it provides digital certification.

Majlis Ash’shura also approved the amendments of the motor insurance law. The amendment report was read out by Ahmed bin Said al Sharqi, head and rapporteur of the Economic and Financial Committee.

Al Sharqi explained that the amendments state that insurance does not cover those who don’t have a driver’s license or it has been withdrawn by a judicial or administrative decision.

The council approved the draft amendment of the Foreigners Residence Law. The amendment involves articles (14) and (40) of the law. The council decided to keep the draft amendment as it was received from the government without changing it.

The Council approved the proposed patients’ rights and safety law and referred it to the State Council.

The Council ratified the vision of the Economic and Financial Committee on the project agreement between the government of the Sultanate of Oman and the government of the State of Qatar on the avoidance of double taxation and the prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income and capital.

Majlis Ash’shura approved the report of the Youth and Human Resources Committee on the expressed desire regarding the nationalization of top leadership positions in the banking and financing sector. The report says that it is important that the Central Bank of Oman (CBO) and the Capital Market Authority (CMA) take an urgent measure to replace the foreigners at senior management level by national competencies in the banking and financing sector. The Council also approved the Youth and Human Resources Committee’s report on the expressed desire to upgrade the basic skills for Omani youth in line with the requirements of the labour market. The aim is to bridge the gap between the outputs of higher education as the supply side and the needs of the labour market as the demand side by finding several solutions and proposals and improving basic skills programs taking into consideration reducing the cost and innovating modern methods of training and rehabilitation at the lowest possible cost using the means of the Fourth Industrial Revolution, in addition to ensuring the quality of training and qualification to prepare the job for the labour market.

After studying the subject, the committee suggested a set of criteria that must be taken into account in Oman’s Future Skills Initiative, namely: Creating a database for Oman’s Future Skills Initiative through which information is provided about the training programs and their type, the skills that work on developing them, the specialization of the programs, and the number of trainees, discussion sessions, workshops, results and performance level, and everything related to the initiative such as the statistics.

Also discussed at the session was the report of the Food and Water Security Committee on the expressed desire regarding the challenges facing the fisheries sector, which aims to follow up on what would overcome any development challenges (regulatory, financing and investment, supervisory, planning) facing the fisheries sector, which is considered as one of the economic diversification sectors and a main contributor to Oman’s Vision 2040.

The session also approved the report of the Media and Culture Committee on the expressed desire to enhance and diversify sustainable funding sources for the Omani public and private media sector. The report aims to explore sources that can contribute to the promotion and diversification of sustainable financing for the Omani public and private media sector.