The Omani Studies Centre at SQU is hosting the international conference on Population and Sustainable Development in the Sultanate of Oman. The opening ceremony of the two day conference was held on Monday, 14 October at SQU’s conference hall under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Saud bin Sulaiman bin Hemyar Al Nabhani, State Advisor.

Dr. Ahmed Hamed Al-Rabaani, Director of Omani Studies Centre at SQU said that the aim of organizing this conference is to highlight the issues related to population in the Sultanate of Oman, to be tackled from different perspectives and to provide possible solutions. “The conference also presents regional experiences, especially from the GCC countries, Arab countries as well as international experiences”.

In seven sessions, the conference features 19 paper presentations. The papers explore the population policies in the Sultanate of Oman and its outcomes in healthcare, nutrition, employment forces, welfare and social welfare, human security and other fields. Dr. Al-Rabaani said that the event seeks to highlight population issues in the Sultanate including population change, cultural transitions, multiculturalism, job seekers, women’s empowerment, quality of life and standard of living, crime, illiteracy, internal and external migrations, urbanization, services, etc.

In the keynote address, Dr. Sawsan Dawood Al Lawati, Director General of Information at the National Center for Statistics, highlighted the most prominent features of the demographic pattern in the Sultanate.