Oman Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) held at Muscat. The Omani delegation was led by Mohammad Naseer Al-Khasibi, Secretary General and the Minister of National Economy, while the Pakistani side was led by Omar Ayub Khan, Minister of State for Finance. Both sides reviewed the decisions arrived at the 4th session of Pak-Oman JMC held in Pakistan, and expressed satisfaction over the implementation status. They agreed to ensure a follow-up of the decisions for promoting technical cooperation. Both sides agreed on forming follow-up task force, at the technical level, with the aim of accelerating the implementation of the JMC and other signed and proposed agreements. The task force will meet every six months alternately in Pakistan and Oman. Both sides reviewed the progress on the utilization of Omani grant of $100 million announced by Sultan Qaboos Bin Said during his visit to Pakistan in April 2001. They noted that there was a need to expedite the process of early utilization of funds amounting to $50 million, allocated for the development of Balochistan province. The Pakistan side had already forwarded feasibility of the projects. The progress of these projects was discussed in detail. Regarding the utilization of funds allocated for investment amounting to $50 million, it was noted that $30.6 million have already been utilized. However efforts are underway to identify projects for utilization of remaining amount. Both sides reviewed progress on finalization of the technical cooperation program between Oman and Pakistan in the fields of standardization and quality assurance and agreed to finalize the program within three months of the signing of the minutes of the 5th JMC meeting. They exchanged respective draft Memorandum of Understanding for cooperation in the field of manpower and training for further consideration, with a view to its early finalization.
