Muna Al-Fuzai

Muna Al-Fuzai



In the past few days, and after the announcement of the death of Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman, the world expressed condolences and regret for the loss and praised his achievements and hard work for many years for the interest and future of the sultanate. In Kuwait, HH the Amir personally visited Oman for condolences and all business in public and private sectors were shut for a full three days from Saturday to Monday, which means that the state was in a complete mourning, as Kuwait and Oman enjoy historical ties.

Kuwait has been associated with Oman by a strong and solid relationship forged by brotherhood, religion, history, geographical location and social relations between families. The death of the sultan left us all with many lessons to recall and learn from. The first was the amazing transfer of power that took place in astonishing transparency to the new Sultan, Haitham bin Tariq. This issue is a sensitive and delicate matter. But in Oman it was applied with utmost lucidity and calmness without chaos or confusion, and this is something we rarely see in the Arab world.

Another achievement is that Oman has reached the highest global increase in the Corruption Perceptions Index. All efforts were exerted to fight this scourge. I believe this is due to Oman's concern to create and improve the business environment in support of the national economy and contribute to building national capabilities in the field of enhancing competitiveness, along with measuring and following up the assessment of the sultanate at the national, regional and international levels. In the Arab world, we need such lessons.

The late sultan was the architect of modern Oman, as the media called him. He worked all his life for the good of his people and his country. Therefore, all the people of Oman were in a state of great sadness over the loss of a man who devoted his life for his country and lived up to the principles of the Omani constitution until his death. Preserving the constitution and its principles are important, so upholding it must not be a subject of negotiation or changes to please anyone.

What also distinguishes Oman is that there is no room for militancy and extremism that does not lead to good. Oman is a country that is open to all for business, investment, livelihood and tourism. I believe that Oman today is far from the vicissitudes of politics in the Arab world and is outstanding, but this did not come without work and effort. Oman has always enjoyed a flexible policy of dialogue with everyone, and it represents a lesson in real diplomacy that we need.

I am sorry for the demise of Sultan Qaboos bin Said, but I am confident that Oman is in safe hands under its new leader Sultan Haitham bin Tariq.