His Excellency Dr. Mahad bin Saeed Baaween, Minister of Labour, patronized the ceremony organized by OQ, the global integrated energy group, to celebrate the graduation of the tenth cohort of the Employment training programme 2023, which included 220 male and female graduates.
As such, the graduates of this programme during the period from 2011 until the current year reached 1578 male and female graduates who joined OQ’s companies and its various sectors in engineering, technical and commercial fields, in collaboration with the Ministry of Labour.
The ceremony was held at W Muscat Hotel and was attended by some officials. Fifty-Seven male and female trainees were also graduated from “Eidaad” Programme, which is carried out by the Group, in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation (MOHERI) after the trainees completed a training programme for 9 months at OQ’s sites and facilities.
These celebrations came as part of the efforts exerted by OQ to qualify and develop the capabilities of national cadres according to its strategy of investing in developing human resources, empowering the youth and promoting entrepreneurship in the Sultanate of Oman to keep up with Oman Vision 2040 aiming to advance human potentials.
OQ pays great attention to human resources. The number of full-time employees at OQ’s companies and sectors reached 4,884 persons in 2022 with an Omanization rate of 84% compared to 82% in 2021.
To empower human resources, OQ seeks to develop national competencies and hone their talents through continuous training and qualification programmes. The Group trained 1800 male and female graduates during the current 2022 and 2023 in organizational, engineering, commercial and administrative fields. It provided 108,000 training hours in 2022, while it completed 10,532 training hours in the fields of health, safety, security and environment in the same year.
OQ supports the rights of workers and adopts the trade union system issued by the Ministry of Labour by virtue of decision no.: 95 of 2012 ordering to form trade unions and enable workers to join them Voluntarily without any consequences.
On this occasion, Mr. Ashraf bin Hamad Al-Mamari, Chief Executive of People, Technology and Culture at OQ, gave a speech in which he said: “OQ harnesses its potentials and capabilities to enhance human development and effectively contribute to developing the skills of Omani youth. It acts this way so that governmental and private efforts become integrated and concerted to develop the capabilities of the human resources at our dear country under the wise leadership of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tariq - may Allah keep and protect him. The graduation of the tenth cohort from the Employment training programme demonstrates the efforts made by OQ Group to empower national cadres at all its companies and facilities.”
He added: “Eidaad” Programme, which is carried out by OQ Group in collaboration with MOHERI qualifies students, graduates and jobseekers. The trainees learned about the philosophy and culture of work at the Group to enable them join the job market with high efficiency and look forward to a better professional future.”
At the end of the ceremony, H.E. Dr. Baaween, patron of the ceremony, took some photos with the graduates of the two programmes.
It is worth mentioning that OQ Group has employees from 50 different nationalities inside Oman and abroad. The Group pays attention to the principles of diversity, inclusivity and equality. It operates in 16 countries across five continents.