Salalah, The Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of Yemen today concluded a round of official talks which began here yesterday.

The Omani side was headed by Eng. Said Hamoud Al Ma’awali, Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, and the Yemeni side was led by Dr. Najeeb Mansour Al Auj, Minister of Communications and Information Technology.

The two sides expressed satisfaction at the outcome of the talks hoped to translate into working plans and memoranda of understanding that would cement cooperation in the fields of transport, communications and information technology.

In the transport field, the two sides decided to start operating national air transport carriers for direct flights in implementation of an agreement signed by their governments in 1997 and a memorandum of understanding between civil aviation authorities in 2013.

The two sides also agreed to enforce bilateral agreements and to exchange expertise in the fields of land and sea transport. Accordingly, Omani and Yemeni seaports will be activated and business communities in both countries are encouraged to invest in the related sectors, benefit from free trade incentives and tap other opportunities.

In the communications and information technology sectors, the two sides agreed to exchange expertise in establishing and running communications and fibre optics’ basic infrastructure. Plans are under way to have Oman host the data of Yemen, benefiting from providers of cloud services and security services.

The two sides also joined hands to revise laws and policies regulating the sector of communications, information technology and posts. This involves cooperation between operators of communications and the activation of sea and land cables.

The talks were attended by Dr. Ali Masoud Al Sunaidy, Chairman of the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones (OPAZ) and Dr. Khalid Al Saleh, Ambassador of the Republic of Yemen to the Sultanate of Oman, among other officials.

Source: Oman News Agency