[oman-l] Oman's economic future

[Michael F. Davie]

>Yes Oman's future is not in oil or gas resources (although we wish we had
>more of it). Oman's future I believe is in its people. The human resource
>in Oman is the most viable resource to see the country past the oil-era.
>However, this valuable human resource needs education and training far
>beyond what is offered in Oman at the moment. Recognising this fact we
>need to invest today's capital from oil and gas in developing this
>resource that will see Oman through. Failure to do that could only lead to
>disaster as there is no other magic formula. I agree that feeding economic
>figures and statistcis can not hide or save the sitiuation but economic
>figures in Oman are fairly accurate and I do not beleive that there is any
>attempt to manuplate figures. It's interpretations of figures that could
>be maniuplated. I agree that facing realities is a most but do the elites
>see it this way?



While I agree with Abdulla Baabood's analysis, I feel that one should not
state that "Oman" is this or that "Oman" should do that. Behind the word
"Oman" there are people, actors of a situation. If Oman, as a country, and
thus as a society, needs to find a way out of what seems to be a very
uncomfortable future situation, then the anaysis should centre on the
people who will do it.

In other words, who are the actors of tomorrow's Oman? How do they fit in
with the local,  regional or international economic situation? Who, in
Dubai, managed to make that country what it is, and why? How did they see
the opportunities, how did they use "the system" to push forward their
agenda, what resistances to it were made, how were they able to circumvent
these obstacles? What is different in Oman?

It would be far to simple, and convenient, to boil down the debate to just
history, or geography, or  resources, or society, orthe  economy. The
answer lies somewhere in the midst of all that, especially as Oman is part
of a new post-Cold War political and economic situation.

Does anyone out there, but on this List, have any contributions to the debate?

Salamat
Michael Davie



@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Michael F. DAVIE     davie@univ-tours.fr
UMR "URBAMA" (Urbanisation dans le Monde Arabe)
23 rue de la Loire,  B.P. 7521, 37075 Tours Cedex 3, France
Tél : (33) 02 47 36 84 67,  Fax : (33) 02 47 36 84 71
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@