Oman making headlines

With a breathtaking step forward, the Sultanate of Oman is the first Arabian country in history adapting to the western (week) holiday and changing its working calendar to international standards starting May 1, 2013.

His Majesty Sultan Qaboos gave his directive to standardize religious and national holidays for all the royal directives to link up the local economy with the global economy, in order to be updated with worldwide banking, trade, import, and export activities. He believes the Sultanate of Oman can benefit hugely from new regulations.

The step comes in pursuance of the care and attention accorded by His Majesty Sultan Qaboos to employees in the government and private sectors, to bring them closer to each other and strengthen family and social ties. His Majesty Sultan Qaboos also gave his directive to adjust weekend holidays for employees in the public and private sectors to be on Fridays and Saturdays with effect from May 1, 2013.

With the new weekly holidays coming uniformly, social ties will see a huge boost.

On the other hand, the move will also ensure the government and private sectors become closely aligned to the international community, writes The Oman Observer.

In the Middle East & UAE, banks work from Sunday to Thursday, which sees four days of the week coinciding with official entities around the globe. The new adjustments will ensure other government and private organizations are getting similarly better placed in the international arena.

His Majesty the Sultan has also given directives to uniformly provide to everyone all officially announced holidays, such as religious and national holidays. On the economic front, especially the banking sector, commercial transactions and import and export receive an enormous step forward and commitment to the global financial world.