Foreign Minister participates in Indian Ocean Conference

Sayyid Badr Albusaidi, Foreign Minister of Oman, took part in the fifth edition of the Indian Ocean Conference, in the UAE capital, Abu Dhabi.

This year's conference, chaired by His Excellency Gotabaya Rajapaksa, President of the Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka, discussed various issues related to the Indian Ocean, including the environment, the development of economic partnerships and  combating COVID-19 through international cooperation.

Delivering a speech at the opening of the conference, Sayyid Badr Albusaidi emphasised the importance of multilateral action and collective cooperation across the Indian Ocean and interaction between its surrounding peoples and countries.

He stressed the importance of work to develop policies to respond to the challenges of climate change and the need to conserve nature and biodiversity in the Indian Ocean for the benefit of future generations while stopping the damage already caused by overfishing and pollution.

The Minister also reviewed the policies of the Sultanate of Oman to develop special economic zones, including the port of Duqm, as well as other ports such as Sohar in the north and Salalah in the south. He noted that the port of Salalah has already become the tenth largest port in the world in terms of size.

Sayyid Badr also spoke of the importance that Oman attaches to the rule of law and the pursuit of collective cooperation as the keys to maintaining security at sea.

A number of ministers, senior officials and academics representing different countries of the world participated in the conference.

This is an unofficial English translation of the original Arabic text. To view the official Arabic text, click here.