Sultanate of Oman marks 44th National Day Tuesday

The Sultanate of Oman will celebrate Tuesday the 44th National Day, with the country making remarkable developments in all domains and becoming a living example of the wise policies and moderation under the rule of Sultan Qaboos bin Said.
Since assuming power in early 1970s, Sultan Qaboos has been leading the Sultanate to make inroads in to develop the modern state concept and modernize all state institutions.
These efforts have led to a quantum leap in various economic, social, health, educational, cultural and sports fields.
The Omani government has taken several measures to improve the investment climate and attract local and foreign investments to diversify national economy and income sources away from oil revenues.
Over the past years, Sultan Qaboos managed to set well-established rules for developing and diversifying the economy. The current phase is witnessing a significant leap in the size of economic, industrial and tourism projects.
The social dimension was the focus of the government's sustainable development plans in the past years and the Sultanate recorded outstanding achievements in all social sectors, especially the health and education.
Sultan Qaboos's main concern was to give Omani people a better life, therefor, he paid great attention to develop different social fields such as education and health.
The health sector had seen local and international achievements by providing patients with perfect medical services, and increasing the number of hospitals from only four in 1970 to about 60 in 2010. Moreover, the number of clinics went from 19 in 1970 to 250 in 2011.
As for the education sector, the number of schools increased from three in 1970 to 13,000 in 2010-2011. Curriculums have also been developed and teachers were given preparation courses to be able to teach in the best ways possible. The government also provided teachers with residences and gave aid and concessionary housing loans to those with low income.
Sultan Qaboos was keen on securing adequate housing for people and assisting low-income to have their own houses through loans with favorable conditions.
The Sultanate believes in the importance of the role played by women in building society, therefore Omani women were given attention in all fields to develop themselves and their skills. The Sultanate had also followed the democratic path by giving the people the right to participate in the ongoing developments.
Oman also works for strengthening its relations with other Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, Arab countries, and the international community.