Saturday 10 / May / 2025
Muscat: The Second Government Communication Forum, held at Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre, was inaugurated on Monday under the patronage of His Highness Sayyid Shihab bin Tariq Al Said, Advisor to His Majesty the Sultan.
More than 1,200 participants from the public relations and media units in the government institutions, as well as experts, academics, media professionals and students, will participate in the forum.
In a statement following the opening of the forum, HH Sayyid Shihab bin Tariq Al Said, said: “The approach adopted by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said - through his continuous communication with the people - comes within the framework of established policies that are currently being implemented on the ground through communication between the government and citizens. These forums complement this march in light of the world’s development in the areas of communication.”
He stressed that the government communication works to frame this policy in an integrated system that is affiliated to the government, and interaction and communication with the community are the policies followed in most countries of the world, wishing the forum and its sponsor’s success.
For his part, Sheikh Al Fadhal bin Mohammed Al Harthy, Secretary General of the Council of Ministers, said in a statement on the sidelines of the Second Government Communication Forum that what the government services call centre have achieved within a year and a half, whether in the size or quality of projects, would have not been reached without the empowerment given to them by the Council of Ministers, the active response of all government institutions, and the efficiency of the human cadres in the centre.
He added that this forum aims to reflect the role of the Centre in enhancing the efficiency of government institutions in the field of communication, and is also a platform to discuss new practices and trends in government work in this area.
More interactive
The activities of the forum kicked off with a speech by Dr. Abdul Mon’em bin Mansour Al Hassani, Minister of Information, in which he said: “The second edition of the government communication forum comes in a new and more interactive form to benefit from your expertise, listen to your experiences and learn about a number of developments in the media sector and government communication, in addition to many of its tasks”.
He added that the Government Services Communication Centre in the Secretariat General of the Council of Ministers has sought since its inception in 2017 and in strategic partnership with the Ministry of Information and the Public Authority for Radio and Television and officials of public relations and media departments in governmental institutions to regulate communication between government institutions and society, interaction with current issues for a clear and interactive government media message on human issues on this good land.
He added, “We will carry on through continuous meetings, workshops and systematic media campaigns, training, development and rehabilitation of communication activities for government institutions during the years 2019 and 2020; in order to integrate the communication efforts and the distribution of roles clearly based on the terms of reference of each party.
National media strategy
He confirmed that in the communications government services centre in the Secretariat General of the Council of Ministers, in cooperation with the Ministry of Information, the Public Authority for Radio and Television and the Office of Oman Vision 2040 and the various local media, have been looking forward to the future through several seminars and dialogues in which we have involved academics, specialists, experts, professionals and students, hoping that these continuous meetings will result in the formulation of the national media strategy 2040, which coincides with the Oman vision 2040 and the pace of implementation.
He added that the media is present in the sectoral committees and participates in the preparation and formulation of the Oman vision 2040. He added, “It is necessary to prepare a national media strategy that explores the future and is based on the themes and pillars of the vision.”
Badr bin Mohammed Al Hinai, Director General of Communications at the Secretariat General of the Council of Ministers, delivered a speech in which he stressed that the government communication centre is working on employing advanced systems to monitor the views and aspirations of the community through various media channels and communication. He added ,”They are sorted, analyzed and categorized by intelligent machine and human intuition, share them with stakeholders to look at the various involved topics and issues and take the appropriate ones.”
The sessions of the first day of the forum included a session entitled “Managing Reputation of Government Institutions” presented by Dr. Ali al- Oufi from Sultan Qaboos University (SQU). The second session entitled “Media and the Enhancement of National Security and Current Challenges and Future Perspectives” was presented by Lt-Col. Anwar al- Huraibi of the Moral Guidance at the Ministry of Defence. The third was entitled “Media Communication as a Soft Power for Countries” presented by Dr. Abdullah BaAboud, Dr. Nawaf Yousef al- Tamimi and Hani al- Bassous. The evening session was entitled “Digital Media and Social Media Journalism”.
The forum also included an exhibition entitled “Excellence in Communication” reviewing the experiences of a number of governmental institutions and companies in communication and institutional media, in addition to the projects that qualified in the best graduation project competition for students of mass media.
