​MUSCAT,  1st May 2018

Meethaq, the pioneer of Islamic banking in Oman from Bank Muscat, in line with the bank’s vision ‘To serve you better, everyday’ and commitment to promoting public-private partnership, hosted H.E. Maitha Saif Al Mahrouqi, Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism, in the 14‫th Majlis Meethaq social and cultural evening held at Bank Muscat head office, in the presence of dignitaries, Management Team members and senior officials from the government and private sector institutions. In a wide-ranging discussion, H.E. Maitha Saif Al Mahrouqi shared interesting aspects of her personal and professional life and views on the travel and tourism sector.‬‬

The Majlis Meethaq forum is a unique initiative aimed at presenting successful role models and highlighting their achievements to motivate and inspire citizens, especially youth, to attain success in life. The social forum hosts well-known economic, social, religious or cultural persona having an influence on Omani society to motivate citizens with inspirational aspects of their life and career.

The interaction with H.E. Maitha Saif Al Mahrouqi focused on her career, personal life, as well as views and perspective on the economy and important social and cultural issues. H.E. Maitha highlighted the opportunities and challenges she faced in her career spanning important responsibilities with the national airline Oman Air and the Ministry of Tourism.

Commenting on the tourism development initiatives, H.E. Maitha stressed that the Sultanate pursued innovative strategies as part of its economic diversification programme. H.E. Maitha said the issuance of a Royal Decree appointing her as Under-Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism was a proud mandate, which carried a great responsibility in giving back to the country more efforts to achieve more success and achievements for the development of the tourism sector in the Sultanate.

H.E. Maitha said that the country’s tourism indicators are regularly reviewed with a focus on domestic tourism. The target for the contribution of domestic tourism is 49% and the country has made great progress in this regard. The development of tourism requires a great deal of co-operation and joint efforts between various entities to achieve the best results. H.E. Maitha said.

H.E. Maitha said the Sultanate’s unique identity is an asset to attract tourists. The whole world commends our adherence to our identity and we have to continue this approach, H.E. Maitha said, stressing that the aim is to attract quality tourism that provides value addition to the travel and tourism sector. Oman will promote more attractions to develop the tourism sector, H.E. Maitha added.

H.E. Maitha also highlighted personal achievements and pointed out that citizens must take advantage of opportunities offered by the government for education, training and employment to achieve success in life and career.

Sulaiman Al Harthy, Deputy Chief Executive Officer – Islamic Banking, said: “Meethaq is proud to host H.E. Maitha Saif Al Mahrouqi and highlight her contributions as a role model for Omani youth. We thank H.E. Maitha for addressing the session and enlightening the audience on opportunities and challenges she faced in making crucial decisions which led to her success. The Islamic finance industry is growing rapidly worldwide and we are happy the forum facilitated an insightful interaction with H.E. Maitha to explore new possibilities and collaborations in Islamic banking and finance vis-à-vis the development and investment opportunities in Oman.”

Meethaq is the leading Islamic financial services provider in the Sultanate with many achievements contributing to the Sultanate’s economy. Meethaq extends support to all key sectors in the Sultanate and is focused on developing as a benchmark Islamic financial services provider in Oman and the region.

Within five years of operations, Meethaq has crossed the milestone of RO 1 billion in assets. Presently, Meethaq accounts for over 33% market share in terms of assets and is the market leader in Islamic banking in Oman.

As the pioneer of Islamic banking in Oman, Meethaq recognises the immense investment prospects and potential that Oman offers and is committed to supporting strategic national development initiatives in line with Oman's Vision 2040 economic blueprint. Meethaq financing receivables rose to RO 1011 million at the end of 31 March 2018 compared to RO 902 million in the same period in 2017, registering an increase of 12.1%.