OREANDA-NEWS. Vale’s industrial complex in Oman earned the country the United Nations (UN) award for “Excellence in promoting export-oriented foreign direct investment.” Vale took part in the celebration together with the Public Authority for Investment Promotion and Export Development (PAIPED), an organization of the Omani Government.

At the celebration event, held on May 5, 2013, in the city of Muscat, Vale was recognized for its fundamental role in winning the award and for its strategic influence on business in the country.

Vale in Oman

In 2005, PAIPED’s market intelligence discovered that Vale was considering the possibility of developing industrial projects in countries geographically located between Brazil and the growing markets in the Middle East, Northern Africa and Asia. In May of that year, Oman’s Ambassador Hunaina Al Mughairy visited our headquarters in Brazil and presented her country to the managers at the time. Two years later, Vale opened its first commercial office in the Middle East in the Sultanate of Oman.

In March of 2009, we started building the Sohar industrial complex, which included a pelletizing plant, with a yearly capacity of 9 million metric tons, and a distribution centre able to move 40 million metric tons per year. The total investment in this project came to USD 1.25 billion. The complex was inaugurated in March 2012.