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Oman hails extension of GSP by European Union by a year

The GSP scheme was to expire at the end of this year, but the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (Unctad) has now set a new deadline of December 31, 2005.

The Oman Centre for Investment Promotion and Export Development (Ociped) has been campaigning for the extension with UNCTAD in line with its efforts to promote Omani productions internationally.

The sultanate currently enjoys GSP for Japan and USA, besides EU. The scheme has immensely benefited the country's export sector.

For instance, its steel furniture and automotive battery shipments to EU currently do not attract any duty, compared with the normal tariffs of 2.7 per cent and 3.7 per cent respectively.

The sultanate's exports of aluminium profiles carry a duty of only four per cent, as against the standard 7.5 per cent, and frozen fish 2.6 per cent, compared with 7.5 per cent.

GSP, an UNCTAD initiative, is offered by all major industrialised nations, known as donor countries, with the basic objectives of increasing foreign exchange earnings of developing and least developed beneficiary countries, promoting their industrialisation and accelerating their rate of economic growth.

"Essentially a preferential tariff system, the scheme provides advantages to developing countries by enabling qualifying products to enter markets of donor countries at reduced or totally eliminated rates of duty, and thus at more competitive prices," Nisreen Ahmed Jaffer, OCIPED's acting director-general of export development, explained.

She noted that under GSP, any Omani producer, whether involved in agriculture, industry, or handicraft production and able to comply fully with the relevant terms and conditions, could "derive benefit from the GSP scheme of which Oman is a beneficiary."

However, such benefit is restricted to the product identified by the donor country to be eligible for GSP.

She added that the centre was also coordinating with Unctad/Geneva to get GSP data for Switzerland, Russia, New Zealand, Norway, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic and Turkey who offered GSP benefit to Omani products.