03-05_Layout 1 20/09/2017 15:17 Page 3 JOURNAL NO. 80 COVER PHOTO: Oman Through My Eyes Photo Credit: Anas Al Dheeb CONTENTS 6 CHAIRMAN’S OVERVIEW 55 THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HISTORY FOR CONTEMPORARY OMAN 8 OMANIS FOR OMANI REEFS 59 THE ROLE OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT AND RENEWABLE ENERGY 62 NEW GENERATION GROUP NEW GENERATION GROUP – 2016-2017 OMAN THROUGH MY EYES THE OMANI STUDENT ADVISORY COUNCIL MY EXPERIENCES ABROAD 73 EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES 74 ANGLO-OMANI LUNCHEON 2016 12 NEW “ACROSS AGES” MUSEUM PROJECT 16 OMAN BOTANIC GARDEN PROJECT 19 CONSERVING THE ESMERALDA’S TREASURES 22 NORTHERN OMAN’S ANCIENT STONE TOMBS 26 OMAN IN THE 1990s: CONSISTENCY AND FORESIGHT 31 COSMOPOLITAN CONNECTIONS IN OMANI 77 THE OMANI-BRITISH BUSINESS COUNCIL TRADITIONAL DRESS 79 EMPOWERING THE SCIENTISTS 35 THE AOS TOUR OF OMAN 2017 OF TOMORROW 39 OMAN OPENS ITS FIRST CENTRE FOR 82 THE AOS ALUMNI EVENT OUTDOOR LEARNING 84 THE SOCIETY’S GRANT SCHEME 42 MAPS, FORTS AND FRANKINCENSE 85 THE OMANI BRITISH LAWYERS 44 OMAN CELEBRATES 50 YEARS OF ASSOCIATION OIL EXPORTS 87 ARABIC LANGUAGE SCHEME 46 TEACHING SHAKESPEARE IN OMAN 91 THE AOS GAP YEAR SCHEME 48 LOOKING EAST: OMAN’S RELATIONSHIP WITH CHINA 94 OMAN SAIL 50 THE ANGLO-OMANI SOCIETY 40TH 97 AOS 2017/18 TALKS PROGRAMME ANNIVERSARY EVENT, MUSCAT 2016 98 BOOK REVIEW 52 AOS BIENNIAL VISIT TO THE PALACE OF WESTMINSTER 99 MEET THE AOS STAFF 3 03-05_Layout 1 09/10/2017 16:37 Page 4 THE ANGLO-OMANI SOCIETY Society Address 34, Sackville Street, London W1S 3ED +44 (0)20 7851 7439 Patron www.angloomanisociety.com HM Sultan Qaboos bin Said Advertising Christine Heslop 18 Queen’s Road, Salisbury, Wilts. SP1 3AJ Telephone: 01722 324822 E-mail: [email protected] President Printed by HE Abdulaziz Al Hinai Brunton Business Publications 1 Salisbury Office Park, London Road, Salisbury, Wilts. SP1 3HP Vice Presidents Telephone: 01722 337038 Hussain bin Mohammed bin Ali www.brunton.co.uk Hon Ivor Lucas CMG Sir Terence Clark KBE, CVO Mr Richard Muir CMG 2017 REVIEW ONLINE Board of Trustees Visit the Anglo-Omani Society website and see Chairman: Mr Robert Alston CMG, QSO, DL ‘The Review 2017’ online using the latest page turning Vice Chairman: Brig John McKeown CBE technology. Pass the link to this year’s issue on to Vice Chairman OBBC: Mr Matthew Foster colleagues and friends. Hon Treasurer: Mr Martyn Bishop FCA www.angloomanisociety.com Company Secretary: Mr Alan Milne FCIS Mr Oliver Blake Mrs Louise Hosking Dr Elisabeth Kendall Wg Cdr Ian Kendrick Col Nigel Knocker OBE Mr Richard Owens OBE The Board of Trustees also has representatives of the Oman Embassy and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office on a rotating basis. Editors PROTECTIVE NOTICE Wg Cdr Ian Kendrick [email protected] Unless stated to the contrary, the copyright of all articles in this Review is Brig John McKeown CBE [email protected] the property of the Anglo-Omani Society. No part of this Review may be reproduced in any way whatsoever without the permission in writing of the Staff Society. Every effort has been made to trace and acknowledge ownership of copyright Mr Ben Wright Manager material; the publishers will be glad to make suitable arrangements with any Ms Isabelle Habib NGG & Communications Officer copyright owner it has not been possible to contact. Ms Ami Amlani Membership & Events Officer Views expressed in contributions from outside writers are their own, and do Ms Kamille Leon Receptionist not necessarily reflect the Society’s opinion or thought. 4 03-05_Layout 1 20/09/2017 15:17 Page 5 THE ANGLO-OMANI SOCIETY DO YOU HAVE A CONNECTION ANNUAL LUNCHEON WITH OMAN? The Anglo-Omani Society ARE YOU INTERESTED IN JOINING THE ANGLO-OMANI SOCIETY? Annual Luncheon will be You will find full details and application held on THURSDAY, forms to download on the Society’s website: 12th OCTOBER at the www.angloomanisociety.com Royal Air Force Club You can also receive membership details and application forms by post. Advance booking necessary. Just contact the Manager at 34, Sackville Street, LONDON, W1S 3ED. 5 The Anglo-Omani Society in 2017 CHAIRMAN’S OVERVIEW BY ROBERT ALSTON The Anglo Omani Society passed its 41st birthday earlier in the year and I feel confi dent in saying that it is in good health with adrenalin fl owing briskly from its many and diverse activities. The highpoint for me of the past 12 months has been the second “celebration of our 40th Anniversary following the memorable Lancaster House event in January last year. This was held on the terrace of the British Ambassador’s Residence in Muscat in October and saw some 150 British and Omani friends and members come together to mark the anniversary. Those present refl ected a wide range of age groups and we were privileged by the presence of senior Ministers of the Omani Government. Thanks to the healthy fi nances which we enjoy as a result of the generous endowment from our Patron HM Sultan Qaboos a decade ago, we are able to increase incrementally from year to year the grants we make to a wide range of educational and cultural activities involving people from both countries, reaching the sum of £150 000 in the fi nancial year to the end of March 2017. Our core programmes thrive. We have enjoyed a fascinating and wide range of talks as part of our monthly lecture programme at Sackville Street. We have continued to send gap year and other students term by term to the Sultan’s school in Muscat. We sponsored a further successful cohort of young Arabists from British universities at Manah last summer. Our grants programme contributes year by year to the programme which introduces the Sultan’s scholars from poor backgrounds at the Sultan’s School to the United Kingdom. Much of this and more is focused on fostering ways in which the next generations of young people from each country can better get to know the other. The activities of the New Generation Groups in London and Muscat remains at the heart of this with active and energetic programmes of lectures and social interaction, and in the case of the Muscat group, active involvement in support of a project supported by one of the Prince of Wales’s charities here. 6 CHAIRMAN’S REVIEW An Omani NGG Delegation visited Muscat for the past three years, for hosting Geoff Brindle, indefatigable organiser of Cambridge in July 2016 for an excellent our birthday reception last autumn and for annual lunches and other events, who programme of discussion with British advice and support in many other ways. We stood down after the 2017 AGM. Thanks counterparts of issues around wish him well as he prepares to leave are also due to our small team at Sackville communication between governments and Muscat for a new appointment elsewhere Street led by Ben Wright and to four people. The animation and quality of the in the Middle East. excellent and committed interns who have conversation at the closing dinner in Finally thanks to our own team, first the all served the Society well over the past 12 Corpus Christi Hall was my other highlight Board in which John McKeown has months. of the last 12 months. Active planning is succeeded Nigel Knocker as Vice- I look forward with relish to another under way for a further visit to Oman by a Chairman. Nigel, who remains a Board activity packed year ahead. n Delegation from Britain in November 2017. member, has served as Vice-Chairman for Our official guest at the annual lunch last a decade, including a year as Acting October 2016 was, for the second time, the Chairman before I took over the position Minister of Higher Education from Muscat. three years ago, and as a Board member Struck by her statistic that her Ministry for many years before that. The Society alone was funding some 2500 Omani owes him a great deal. I single out also Robert Alston students in Britain for the academic year then beginning, we have been seeking ways in which we can increase the Society’s interaction with Omani student groups in universities here. In this and other ways we seek to increase the use of Sackville Steet as ‘Beit Oman’ in London for a wide range of activities designed to increase awareness and knowledge between the two countries across the broadest possible range of subjects. We have this year reviewed our corporate membership structure in the light of the setting up of the Omani-British Business Council, under the Chairmanship of Sir Sherard Cowper-Coles, as the partner of the Oman British Friendship Association in Muscat. They are now the twin vehicles for promoting business relationships between us. Our corporate membership will be merged with that of the OBBC from April next year and Matt Foster has been appointed Vice-Chairman of OBBC and also a member of the Society’s Board to oversee these twin streams of activity. Our relations with the Omani Embassy in London and the British Embassy in Oman remain strong. I am grateful for the support of His Excellency Abdul Aziz Al Hinai, supported by Sheikh Saud Al Mashani, for the Society and its activities. I am also grateful to Jon Wilks, British Ambassador in 7 OMANIS FOR OMANI REEFS COMMUNITY-BASED RESEARCH AND CONSERVATION PROGRAMME ARTICLE BY SAM MITTMERHAM Since 2009 award-winning This has resulted in the establishment of bigger than me and a former special forces marine protected areas in Musandam and soldier. An Oxbridge-trained biologist, international conservation community-based surveys near Muscat.