Saturday 29 / November / 2025
Muscat: The Oman Business and Partnership Forum with the private sector at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion will organise on Wednesday the fourth session of the Trade Dialogues for this year on environmental, social and governance standards, business priorities, finance and enhancing the competitiveness of companies.
A select group of experts and business leaders from the public and private sectors are expected to take part in the event.
Haritha bint Salem Al Busaidi, Director of the Oman Business Forum and Partnership with the Private Sector Office at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, explained that the dialogue session will discuss the impact of applying environmental, social and governance standards of Omani companies, starting with exporters, passing through manufacturers and reaching small companies that have begun the first steps in preparing governance reports.
She emphasised that environmental, social and corporate governance standards represent a shift from the level of aspirations to the stage of actual accountability, and companies that are able to provide reliable data about their use of resources, their interaction with their employees, and their governance system are more able to access financing more easily and at a lower cost.
The dialogue session is being organised at a time when environmental, social, and governance (ESG) standards have become a fundamental criterion for business credibility, after previously being classified as an additional option for responsible corporate behavior. Many regulatory bodies in the Sultanate of Oman have begun to strengthen compliance requirements; the Muscat Stock Exchange requires all listed companies to submit detailed governance reports, and the Central Bank of Oman has directed banking institutions to include environmental and social risks in loan evaluation and pricing processes.
