Wednesday 22 / July / 2026
Muscat: Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in cooperation with the Secretariat General of GCC and the Federation of GCC Chambers, organised a workshop on Wednesday to review joint Gulf industrial investment opportunities in priority industrial activities.
The workshop comes within the framework of the efforts exerted by the GCC Secretariat General to enhance joint Gulf action. It also serves as an implementation of the decision issued by the Ministers of Industry of the GCC states during their 56th meeting held last April, regarding the approval of the outputs of a study on preparing and promoting five joint Gulf industrial investment opportunities in priority industrial activities to the Gulf private sector.
The workshop aimed to introduce the private sector to promising investment opportunities in priority industrial activities and encourage it to benefit from them. This contributes to enhancing joint Gulf industrial investment, supporting industrial integration among the GCC states, and achieving the targets of sustainable economic development.
Yousuf Ali Al Sunaidi, Director of the Industry and Mineral Resources Department at the GCC Secretariat General, explained that the private sector represents a key partner in achieving economic development and enhancing integration among the GCC states. This is particularly evident in light of the economic transformations witnessed by the GCC states, which aim to diversify the production base, increase the industrial sector's contribution to the economy, and enhance its competitiveness and sustainability.
He stated that the unified strategy for industrial development of the GCC states was established to set an integrated framework for supporting industrial development. It included a number of initiatives, most notably the preparation of joint Gulf industrial investment opportunities in priority activities.
For her part, Lamia Al Shunaifi from the GCC Secretariat General delivered a visual presentation to introduce the office of the Economic and Development Affairs Authority at the Council. She reviewed the role of the Authority, which was established in 2016 to enhance economic integration among member states by discussing economic and developmental issues, addressing challenges facing the implementation of Gulf agreements and decisions, and proposing initiatives and projects that contribute to achieving Gulf economic unity.
During the presentation, she touched upon the project of preparing joint Gulf industrial investment opportunities, which aims to enhance industrial integration, reduce reliance on imports, raise the competitiveness of Gulf industries, and create quality job opportunities.
She also reviewed the stages of preparing the project, which included analyzing 26 investment opportunities and selecting 15 promising ones, ultimately leading to the identification of five priority investment opportunities. These were approved in preparation for their promotion to the Gulf private sector.
Dr. Mohammed Al Buraiki from the Gulf Organization for Industrial Consulting (GOIC) presented a working paper titled "Promoting Joint Gulf Industrial Investment Opportunities." He reviewed the project prepared by the organization, which aims to enhance industrial integration among the GCC states by developing joint investment opportunities in priority industrial sectors. This contributes to diversifying the economic base, enhancing industrial security, reducing reliance on imports, and increasing the value-added of Gulf industries.
He explained that the project is based on utilizing the comparative advantages of each Gulf state and building integrated regional value chains. It also focuses on attracting qualitative investments, localizing strategic industries, supporting Gulf exports, and raising the competitiveness of the industrial sector.
He emphasised that the project includes five main investment opportunities in industries of strategic value: the manufacturing of high-pressure seamless pipes for the oil and gas sector, the manufacturing of sterile single-use surgical instruments, the manufacturing of high-purity copper cathodes, the manufacturing of silicon wafers used in semiconductors, and the manufacturing of multi-parameter patient monitoring devices.
