The Minister of Higher Education of the Sultanate of Oman, HE Dr Rawya Saud Al Busaidi

The Delegation from Oman;

Members of the Technical Delegation from South Africa and Oman Distinguished Guests Ladies and Gentlemen Madam Minister, We have a special gathering today.

Not only are we meeting as two important Science and Technology countries in the developing world, we are also meeting as two of the world’s ancient civilizations.

The ancient civilizations of the Gulf and Middle East are well documented and an important chapter in human history.

This is why it gives me such great pleasure to welcome you home, to Southern Africa, the Cradle of Humankind.

On the Science and Technology front, we are pleased that the path we started almost two years ago when a technical delegation from Oman visited South Africa in 2005 has led to this important day of the Signing of the Agreement on Scientific and Technological Cooperation between our two countries.

Although we are arguably still at fairly early stages of our cooperation, the signing of the Agreement today means that we have reached an important and necessary milestone in our relationship that will enable us to cement a mutually beneficial partnership between our countries.

Certainly, the 2005 Oman visit to our country was a critical building block, which began to open the vistas of cooperation we are finalising today. During that visit, the Oman delegation met with various government departments, including our Science and Research Institutions, and that way we hope the delegation was able to understand our science system better.

We have also had the opportunity to learn about Oman’s own Scientific and Technological imperatives. We were encouraged to learn that your strengths lie in the areas of engineering, computer science, agricultural sciences, mathematics, clinical medicine, physics and chemistry.

We were further pleased to note that most research conducted in Oman and done at the request of government, has been in areas such as agriculture, minerals, water resources and marine sciences, all of which form important areas of our national development imperatives.

We believe that all these areas of scientific and technological inquiry and innovation represent exciting pillars of interest and cooperation, which are in line with our own mission of developing, coordinating and managing a National System of Innovation geared towards creating the critical mass of the human capital required to support sustainable economic growth initiatives.

Nevertheless, a key challenge for our respective science systems is to establish and develop the type of scientific research that can lead to innovation and thereby contribute to the economic growth needed to address the socio-economic challenges of our countries.

I am certain that our countries are more than keen to proceed with the implementation of this Agreement, and the establishment of a Joint Committee to ensure the necessary dual facilitation in the implementation of the Agreement. We must then move with speed to look at the establishment of a Business Plan pointing to concrete projects and institutional partnerships.

This Agreement is another clear indication that South Africa is increasingly being perceived as an important destination for global S&T initiatives. The South African Government, and in particular, my department will continue our commitment to build the next generation of cutting edge research infrastructure by, amongst others, making available associated public investments and signing cooperation agreements of this nature.

Similarly, we have been heartened to learn that as part of its new 15-year strategy for higher education and scientific research, Omani scientists are also keen to support and maximise benefits from their own research by increasing their cooperation with scientists abroad.

Of particular interest to us, is the fact that Oman’s new strategy will boost international cooperation by granting more annual scholarships for studying abroad, and promoting further collaboration between Oman’s science institutions and those of other countries, including South Africa.

Of particular interest to us are the new developments in the Gulf that are rapidly establishing the region as a very significant international technology hub. We must therefore conclude by applauding the leaders and scientists of Oman on their enormous commitment and wisdom in bringing our two countries to this mutually fruitful scientific pact.

We will put our best foot forward as we discuss opportunities for co-operation between our countries for mutual benefit, as well as the development of Science and Technology in the South.

The process that began at the last G77 S&T Ministerial, of the development of Consortium of Science, Technology and Innovation Institutions of the South (COSTIS) will be important in this regard. Honourable Minister, Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish to close by stating once again that the Signing of this Agreement represents an important milestone in the development and growth of the knowledge economy in our respective countries.

I wish you all the best in your stay in South Africa. Please do not hesitate to call on us for any assistance to make your time here productive and enjoyable.

I thank you.