SHARE
The demise of Sultan Qaboos bin Said on January 10, 2020 marked the end of an era. Since the beginning of the “Blessed Renaissance” in 1970, which took place under his stewardship, Oman achieved unprecedented development, growing massively in every socio-economic metric.
For instance, total GDP increased from $256 million in 1970 to almost $77 billion in 2019. In the same timeframe, the sultanate went from having just 10 kilometres of paved roads, to 40,000km. The number of schools grew rapidly, from three to over 2,000.
But Oman’s march towards modernity has not only focused on modern metrics of development. A key part of Sultan Qaboos’s vision was the importance he placed on the preservation of the country’s centuries-old spectacular heritage and culture as well.
How Qatar has got out of the Gulf embargo with a much stronger hand
Among Saudi, UAE, Bahrain & Egypt, there was a sense of resignation that the embargo failed in its objective bring Doha to heel, or at least in line with Saudi-Emirati consensus.
Bobby Ghosh 8 January, 2021 8:22 pm IST Text Size:
A+
On Tuesday, Qatar was welcomed back into the fold of Gulf Arab states after a three-and-a-half-year embargo. As my colleague Hussein Ibish noted, this does not mean the country has resolved its disputes with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Egypt the neighbors that imposed its isolation. No lambs were fattened for the returning prodigal, no laudations composed in welcome. Still, there is no gainsaying the fact that Doha has emerged stronger for the experience.
Αssociated Press
Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias speaks during a join news conference with Israel s counterpart Gabi Ashkenazi and Cypriot Foreign Minister Nikos Christodoulides after a meeting between the foreign Ministers of Greece,Israel and Cyprus in Athens, on Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris) 1/7/2021 Athens News Agency
ΑΤΗΕΝS Foreign ministry spokesperson Alexandros Papaioannou on Thursday said that Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will continue the intensive round of bilateral meetings in 2021, as in 2020.
Next week on Wednesday, January 13, Dendias will be in Rome for a meeting with his Italian counterpart Luigi Di Maio and afterwards he will go to Lisbon, in order to meet with his Portuguese counterpart Augusto Santos Silva.
Xinhua world news summary at 0530 GMT, Jan 6 northkoreatimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from northkoreatimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
2021-01-06 02:05:39 GMT2021-01-06 10:05:39(Beijing Time) Xinhua English
TRIPOLI, Jan. 5 (Xinhua) Prime Minister Fayez Serraj of the UN-backed Libyan government welcomed on Tuesday the results of the 41st Gulf Cooperation Council Summit held in Saudi Arabia which ended the rift with Qatar. The President of the Presidential Council of the Government of National Accord welcomes the outcomes of the Gulf Cooperation Council Summit held in Saudi Arabia, which succeeded in clearing the atmosphere and strengthening brotherhood in the Gulf region, in a way that strengthens Arab solidarity, Serraj said in a statement later Tuesday. The President of the Presidential Council stresses that the Al-Ula Declaration is an important step in the right direction and hopes it would lead to Arab reunification and effectively contribute to establishing security and stability in Libya and ending all negative interference, the statement said.