Oman The Royal Directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said stipulate that the future vision “Oman 2040” will be thoroughly developed and precisely formulated in light of wide community consensus and the participation of all social segments of the society. It aims at fully realizing economic and social realities, objectively foresight the future, and effectively guide planning in the upcoming two decades. Oman 2040 vision comes as an interpretation of Sultan Qaboos’ foresight. It is consisted of the Main Committees and the other supporting committees that were formed to prepare the future vision “Oman 2040”, including the Technical Committee, as well as the sectoral committees that comprised three committees according to the themes of the vision; “People and Society” Committee, “Economy and Development” Committee, and “Governance and Institutional Performance” Committee. In addition, National Priorities and Strategies Alignment Committee, Organization and Follow up Committee, and the National Conference Preparation Team were formed. Members of these committees comprise more than 100 people from various stakeholders, representing all segments of the Omani society. The Main Committee has founded Oman 2040 Office and supplied it with qualified Omanis to offer the needed technical and administrative support to the project. Participation The participatory approach of the future vision “Oman 2040” project is based on the Royal Directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin Said and aims at enhancing social participation in exchanging views and creating a real societal dialogue around the key issues, in order to formulate the results that will shape a prosperous future for Oman. In order to involve a wider range of stakeholders in all themes of the vision preparation, workshops are held in all governorates of the Sultanate to inform them of the key issues identified and to include their proposals and perspectives within the future directions and long-term objectives in light of possible scenarios. Based on the Main Committee’s decision to form the sectoral committees and approve the Vision's themes and their pillars, the phases of developing the Vision were identified and set to be completed and announced in the first quarter of 2019. The following framework demonstrates "Oman 2040" development phases during the period March 2017 to March 2019, which include preparing the three main reports of the Vision's themes, formulating "Oman 2040" initial charter, convening the national conference with international participation, and finally formulating "Oman 2040" final charter and announcing it. Pillars Oman 2040 has 3 main pillars: 1.People and society that aims at: Enhancing Family and Community Health and Well-being. Upholding the Omani Identity and Heritage. Developing the National Technical and Entrepreneurial Capabilities. 2.Economy and development that aims at: Reading Wealth through Economic Diversification and Private Sector Partnership. Ensuring Balanced Governorates Development. Preserving Environment Sustainability. Building World-class Infrastructure and Livable Cities. 3. Governance and institutional performance that aims at: Improving Governance Effectiveness and the Rule of Law. What are the infinitives? Communication initiatives are an essential part of the communication and stakeholders' involvement strategy, supervised by the Organization and Follow-up Committee. This strategy comes as part of "Oman 2040" project following the Royal Directives of HM Sultan Qaboos to formulate the future vision in light of wide community consensus and the participation of all social segments. Oman vision 2040 communication initiatives were designed to ensure full participation of all related sectors and reinforce the role of the strategic partners in creating "Oman 2040" vision through a number of communication values. The communication initiatives target several social segments, mainly the youth, the private sector, and the local community in governorates, children, and the media. The initiatives are: Oman 2040 team. All of Oman. Face of the Future. Media of the Future. Business Dialogue. Creative Youth Incubatory. 1.Future foresight forum Date: 6 -7 December, 2017 Venue: The Oman Convention and Exhibition Center The “Future Foresight Forum” is an integral part of the project for preparing the future vision “Oman 2040”. It complements the stages including analysis of the current situation in the Sultanate, identification of the key issues relating to the reality of the social and economic development to be addressed by the vision, conduct benchmarking and identify the best opportunities that can be adopted and implemented. The Future Foresight Forum objectives are: Highlighting the future global, regional and national trends in relation to sectoral issues of interest to the Omani society relevant to the future foresight of the Sultanate. Identifying the key themes and developing the future scenarios to be included in this stage of the Oman 2040 vision preparation. Raising the public awareness about the importance of the future. Arriving at creative solutions to the challenges that the Sultanate may face in ensuring the continuation of its prosperity, economic growth and social welfare by 2040 in the manner that enhances the Sultanate’s position on the global map. The forum witnessed the attendance of a number of prestigious international experts and over 300 stakeholders representing all society groups, government and private sector organizations. of public, private and civil sectors, representing various segments of society such as women, youth, people with special needs, higher education students, academics, and experts in planning and future sciences were also be present at the Forum. The Forum is designed to give special importance to the participatory approach through two days of interactive sessions and panel discussions with a group of decision makers and experts at the national and global levels, and with wide participation of various segments and sectors of the society. The main sectoral ideas and trends, at the global level, were presented and shared with the participants, for onward use and turning the same into results-oriented opportunities for the Sultanate over the next 20 years. As part of the Forum, breakout sessions was held and included interactive activities, electronic voting and discussion points to enable the participants to effectively participate in discussing the topics presented at the Forum. 2.Virtual Labs The Virtual Labs campaign is initiated in accordance with the directives of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos Bin Said- may Allah bless him- that stresses on the importance of involving the Omani community in formulating Oman Vision 2040. The campaign aims to engage Omanis in the current stages of the project and to get as many of them- especially the youth- to participate and voice their opinions regarding the future trends in Oman. The results of the campaign will be used as inputs for the Oman Vision 2040 workshops that will be held in March 2018. Objectives A set of key objectives were identified to implement the Virtual Labs: Enrich the Oman Vision 2040 workshops’ inputs through the poll. Activate the community’s involvement by granting all the society segments the chance to participate. Bridging cooperation channels with the partners and the related organizations. 3.Oman 2040 Workshops As part of the formulating Oman future vision 2040, Vision 2040 Office had organized workshops that aims to define the objectives and strategic directions of the vision’s 3 pillars and the related issues to involve the public in shaping and formulating the future vision. The workshops discussed the main issues that were agreed to be of the highest impacts. The workshop discussed the potential scenario cases for the future of Oman. The event had participations of representatives of different sectors and segments of society, such as women, children, academics, the youth, and a number of experts, as well as the private, public and civil sectors. It is worth to mention that the workshop is part of the participatory approach that is based on the Royal Directives of His Majesty to stress on the importance of involving the Omani community in building and shaping the Oman Vision 2040. Vision 2040 Office is to present the results of the workshops through the communication initiatives.