By Manal Abdel Fattah
The Middle East Space Conference highlighted the Sultanate of Oman as a regional gateway for space services and applications, enhancing communication, building partnerships and exchanging experiences between global, regional and local actors in the space sector, in addition to providing a platform for decision makers in the region to discuss the main trends of the sector and encourage the flow of international investments, transfer and localization. Technological progress of the space sector.
The conference, hosted by the Sultanate of Oman, aims to achieve the vision and objectives of the policy and executive program for Omani space, and to identify investment opportunities for the sector in the region.
The conference was opened in Arab bin Haitham Al Said, in the presence of a number of ministers and with the participation of 400 experts and CEOs in the space sector from government agencies and private sector companies around the world, and more than 70 speakers.
Engineer Saeed bin Hamoud Al Maawali, Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, said that the idea of this conference is a translation of the objectives of the policy and the executive program for the Omani space sector and in fulfillment of his vision for the Sultanate of Oman to be the regional gateway for space applications that support economic diversification, stressing the Sultanate of Oman’s sincere desire to develop this sector and benefit from various Services and enabling global and regional cooperation initiatives in it, especially since the region is in continuous growth and is on the verge of empowering the space sector across the sector’s various value chains.
The Omani Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology stressed that the world is witnessing praiseworthy competition in the space sector, ways to benefit from it, and remarkable growth in its economic performance, and that the features of the sector have changed due to several positive factors, as global reports indicate that the size of the global space sector economy has reached a value of 546 billion. US dollars during the year 2022 AD, and with future expectations of about 800 billion US dollars during the year 2028 AD.
He explained that investing or owning space systems is no longer limited to specific countries, while this international cooperation has enabled many countries and private companies to enter this sector. The sector has witnessed the entry of private investors and investment leaders to develop various infrastructure, services and space applications, in addition to rapid growth. For the emergence of advanced services and technologies that use space to facilitate and improve life on Earth.
He stressed that the conference is an opportunity to meet relevant institutions and those interested in space technologies and sciences from the government and private sectors from various countries of the world to exchange experiences, build partnerships, consolidate strong relations, learn about investment opportunities in the region, and build bridges of cooperation. To build inspiring societies and peoples who enjoy a bright future full of progress and prosperity.
