Muscat: Company owners in Oman will be offered the chance to take part in an awareness campaign to help them market their products at Expo 2020 in Dubai, which is expected to begin this October.

Titled ‘The Road to Expo 2020 Dubai’, the first activity under the event is a virtual workshop that will take place at 11am today on Zoom.

The campaign is spearheaded by the General Commission of the Sultanate to Expo 2020 Dubai, and is one of the national initiatives in collaboration with a number of public and private entities. These include the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources, the Ministry of Social Development, Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the SME Development Authority, and Taiseer Services and Transactions Centre, which will manage Oman’s sales outlet at the country’s pavilion at Expo 2020.

The workshop will see the participation of Mohsin bin Khamis Al Balushi, Advisor of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion and the Sultanate’s commissioner general for Expo 2020 Dubai, Dr Abdullah Al Mahrouqi, CEO of the Industrial Innovation Centre, Hamad bin Salim Al Harthi, Head of Finance for SMEs and Portfolio Management at Oman Development Bank, and Nada Bassam of Taiseer. Workshop discussions will be moderated by Ghassan Al Roshdi.

Mohsin bin Khamis Al Balushi, Advisor of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion is to give a speech on the preparedness for the participation of the Sultanate at Expo 2020 Dubai, and the opportunities such international expos provide at the national level for various economic sectors. His speech will also tackle the challenges facing the Sultanate’s participation under present developments and conditions of the COVID 19 pandemic, the extent to which industrialists and SMEs can benefit from Expo 2020 Dubai, and the incentives offered by the Sultanate’s General Commission to participants at the expo.

Dr. Abdullah Al Mahrooqi, CEO of the Industrial Innovation Centre, is on hand to discuss the significance of Expo 2020 Dubai for industrialists and manufacturers, the role of the Industrial Innovation Centre, and other government departments concerned with entrepreneurs and innovators, who will stand to benefit from participation at Expo 2020 Dubai.

Hamad bin Salim Al Harthi, Head of Finance of SMEs and Portfolio Management at Oman Development Bank (ODB), will shed light on the role the bank plays in transformation of a number of domestic and handicraft projects into SMEs. Other topics he will discuss include the strategy of flexible recovery for owners of SMEs during the pandemic, how the bank supports value addition for producers and industrialists, and the impact of financial resources on development of products targeting the international markets.

Nada Bassam of Taiseer will discuss the key role of Taiseer at Expo 2020 Dubai, and brief the participants on the ‘Road To Expo 2020 Dubai’ initiative, which is part of the Frankincense Project for Development of Oman’s Products Worldwide. She will also discuss the readiness of Omani products for participation in Expo 2020 Dubai, and the contents of the educational campaign.

The campaign will run from July to October 2021 and includes a number of workshops and lectures delivered by a number of experts in their respective fields. These include marketing tactics, product promotion, innovation and manufacturing, and commercial and handicraft marketing, among other activities targeting small-scale industrialists and SMEs.