Oman Technology Fund (OTF) has signed an agreement with Careem, the leading ride hailing company and one of biggest technology organisations in the region to study transport and delivery innovations. The agreement aims at its first stage to support the government through several transport technologies such as drones and autonomous vehicles.
The pilot phase will focus on the use of drones for logistics delivery services in the oil and gas services and logistics industries. The two sides will explore the possibility of entering into a joint venture and/or strategic partnership aimed at developing land transport services, a press release said.
“The objective of the MoU is that by the end of 2018, the two sides will be able to enter into a strategic cooperation agreement covering long-term cooperation on all or some of the above issues,” said Yousuf al Harthy, chief executive officer of Oman Technology Fund.
“In order to make progress in the discussions, especially with regard to the launch of the plan for the use of drones in logistics transport, in Muscat during the last quarter of 2018,” Harthy added.
Commenting on the occasion, Bassel al Nahlaoui, managing director of Careem Gufl said, “As a company that was born and grew up in this region, we are delighted to sign this understanding with OTF, and proud to be working in Oman, having relaunched our services in Muscat with Marhaba and with the approval of the Ministry of Transportation. And as the leading Internet platform in the greater Middle East we are excited to be able to support a like-minded partner in OTF to share in a vision together and help enable Oman to utilise our technology and platform to work across several sectors in the country.”
“This partnership will give us opportunity to demonstrate how the Careem platform can support governments in their forward-thinking ambitions and help enable Oman to become one of the leading smart cities in the region,” he added.
Samir Satchu, senior director government relations at Careem said, “We are excited to be strengthening our relationship with the government of Oman. We are partnering with the Oman Technology Fund to demonstrate how Careem’s technology, platform and expertise can drive innovation beyond ride-hailing, for example in smart city development and other sectors of strategic importance to the government of Oman.”