Tony Walsh – author & tours through Arabia
I joined the crowds assembled to watch the procession of The Queen’s lying-in-state.
Opposite the Cabinet Office and Foreign Office in London, with an uninterrupted, privileged, view of the procession and sunny weather, it was a grand occasion. Continue reading “Procession of the Queen’s lying-in-state for Queen Elizabeth“
Eid Mubarak عيد مبارك July 2022
Sultan Haitham bin Tariq has made a number of Ministerial and other important changes of personnel in Oman. (He also made changes in 2020)
Oman’s oil minister Continue reading “Oman’s new Ministers and senior Government Officials are appointed”
London’s remarkable new train service, the Elizabeth Line is more, or less, open. 
Its currently running Continue reading “Elizabeth Line – London – is open”
Jokha Alharthi’s latest book in English, the Bitter Orange Tree, is another reflection, through the eyes of a protagonist, about several generations of an Omani family.
In the Bitter Orange Tree Zuhour, who is the protagonist, arrives in a snow covered British city to study. She slumps into a mournful reflection about a newly dead ‘grandmother, a miserable older sister and a depressed mother.
Zuhour lyrically remembers her grandmother’s scent of “civet musk, precious aloeswood oil, and ancient soil”.
As with Jokha Alharthi’s last Continue reading “Jokha Alharthi’s latest book in English, the Bitter Orange Tree”
Sultan Haitham bin Tariq met with Queen Elizabeth in Windsor Castle, London today,
on his first Continue reading “Sultan Haitham meets Queen Elizabeth in London”
Sultan Haitham will visit London on 14 December.
He will be accompanied by Sayyid Shihab bin Tariq Al Said, the Deputy Prime Minister for Defense Affairs, Sayyid Theyazin bin Haitham Al Said, Minister of Minister of Culture, Sports and Youth, General Sultan bin Mohammed Al Numani, Minister of the Royal Office, Sayyid Badr bin Hamad Albusaidi, Foreign Minister of Oman and Sheikh Abdulaziz bin Zaher Al Hinai, Oman’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.
This will be Sultan Haitham’s first visit to Great Britain as Sultan. His son, Sayyid Theyazin, was a diplomat at Oman’s UK embassy.
Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud will visit Oman on Monday 6 December.
This comes after Sultan Haitham visited Saudi Arabia on 11 July 2021. Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said arrived in Neom, Saudi Arabia and met King Salman. Neom is the site of a projected city, part of the Saudi Vision 2030 push.
Saudi Arabia, along with the UAE, has invested heavily in Oman and has so far probably created more jobs than states such as China, despite the latter’s involvement on Duqm.
Saudi Arabia has just hosted French President Emmanuel Macron part of President Macron’s Gulf tour when he also visited the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Oman will be hoping for additional investment from Saudi Arabia that will be boosted with the expected opening of the road link between Oman and Saudi Arabia through the Empty Quarter, that I blogged about as being near opening in 2015. The road will be useful to improve flow of goods between the two countries, especially for consumer products like Al Marai.
A long hoped for oil-pipeline from Saudi’s oils fields into Duqm Oman is a longer-term project. The Oman-Saudi road will make its construction easier as the road passes through the oil area of Shaybah in Eastern Saudi Arabia. Other infrastructure areas is the much anticipated Gulf Rail project, that would not only link the GCC states but in Oman will be a much needed freight, and hopefully, passenger service that will remove pressure on Oman’s road network.
The announcement about Prince Salman’s visit will doubtless be followed by numerous agreements between the two countries and companies.
Following his visit, Prince Salman will travel through the GCC – meeting with leaders of the UAE on Tuesday and then onto Qatar, Bahrain and Kuwait.
This week London has been hosting the World Travel Market (WTM) at ExCeL London from November 1 to 3 . Incidentally ExCeL , owned by Abu Dhabi was a centre for overflow Covid hospitalisations in London.
The theme of the event was ‘reconnect, rebuild’ Continue reading “World Travel Market (WTM) London 2021 ExCeL London from November 1 to 3“
Oman ratifies the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications by by Royal Decree 19/2021 on February 15, 2021 .
This Geneva Act in itself is Continue reading “Oman ratifies the Geneva Act of the Lisbon Agreement on Appellations of Origin and Geographical Indications this protects brand names that are geographic in nature.“
Alila Hinu Bay Oman is now taking bookings from 1 May 2021.
The property is a 10km drive from Mirbat, a small town east of Salalah International Airport.
With an Continue reading “Alila Hinu Bay Oman Mirbat Dhofar“
The annual ranking of the Middle East’s most powerful women in business has now been revealed by Forbes Middle East. From the sultanate, four Omani women have made to the coveted top 50 of The Middle East’s Power Businesswomen 2021.
From Oman, Haifa al Khaifi,
who was recently named CEO of Energy Development Oman (EDO) is ranked 30th. Continue reading “Middle East’s most powerful women”
The Oman Budget for 2021 has been announced.
The figures are based Continue reading “Oman Budget 2021”
The world is experiencing transformative change with technology developments, demographic changes, changing consumer habits, environmental and climate change. So to build for the future a new emphasis is needed. Local initiatives to support local people
These together with continued inequalities and the immense impacts of the COVID-19 have created a new approach, the Continue reading “Tourism needs to focus on local initiatives to support local people”
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