Oman's trade and investment laws are being revised and updated to promote efficiency and competitiveness in the wake of the country's accession to the World Trade Organization, minister of commerce, Maqbool bin Ali Sultan, was quoted as saying by the Gulf News.
The Gulf state became the 138th member last November after enacting a series of new legislations to meet the pre-requisites for joining.
Saudi Arabia is the only GCC state still in the queue.
The minister said WTO membership meant that Oman is to gain access to the international market on a non-preferential basis.
"It’s one of the major steps taken by the Sultanate to integrate itself into the global economy.
"Oman has independently implemented several economic reforms to meet the challenges of globalization and more steps are in the offing to keep pace,” he told the paper.
The privatization campaign designed to reduce government control on national economy was going on smoothly, he added.
"Oman is currently enhancing the regulatory mechanism in various fields and enacting appropriate legislations to protect Omani products against any unjust practices that may hurt their competitive position."
The next WTO meeting is to take place in Qatar in November in an attempt to revive the trade liberalization drive that was stalled in Seattle in 1999.
The Seattle fiasco, which descended into ugly battles between protestors and riot police, exposed profound mistrust around the world over the course of a West-dominated globalization – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
