Qaboos puts emphasis on jobs for Omanis

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos has underlined the need for creating jobs for Omanis in all fields to ensure not only self-reliance but improvement in living standards.
Addressing the Council of Ministers, the Omani monarch reviewed the role of the national workforce in the past five years. He called for greater efforts during the next five-year plan, starting on January 1, 2001, in order to boost the social and economic fields.
According to Oman Television's late night bulletin on Monday, Sultan Qaboos said the days of traditional education were over. The world was focussing on technical and vocational education to meet the needs of the day.
The cabinet meeting took place in the midst of an accelerated Omanisation campaign designed to provide citizens with at least 20,000 jobs a year in the private sector.
Omanis are being offered financial assistance to recieve specialised higher education at private colleges, and vocational institutes have been re-activated.
A series of jobs has also been set aside for Omanis.
Early next year, expatriates won't be able to work at bookshops, in car rental firms and audio-video shops, or as water-electricity meter readers.
The list is bound to become longer.
Reviewing Arab issues, Sultan Qaboos underscored the growing need for greater Arab unity to achieve a lasting peace in the Middle East and reiterated Oman's fullest support for this.
Oman has since severed its trade links with Israel, established in 1996, in protest against Tel Aviv's renewed aggression on the Palestinians.