Tobacco Documents Online

A). OMAN 'WVORKI NG G ROUP Minutes of ineetiing held at Muscat Intercontinental' Hotell on Wednesday January 29 1992. 1 Present: B.A.T. Mr R Davies Brown & Williamson Mr E Aguilar PhilipMorrisMrBBarondi R' J Reynolds Mr G Nakad Rothmans Mr J, Bevan. R o!th.Tnans/TEI/Iwluscat Mr I Mort'on META IVI!r R A11en (Secretary) A ~~ e~ na, To review the draft paper dated 13th January 1992' and to amend'~ the paper in the light of this review. Secretary to prepare and present to full META meeting. 2

D. Background Agreed: 1) Oman's anti-tobacco lobby was notablyassertive with Oman, leading the way on some issues of concern to the industry. In addition, it was desirable to avoid al repeat of the Qatar situation which had deprived META of an opportunity to, be pro-active. Smoking only became permissiblle as part of Ornan's development promoted'. by the Sultan. It was thus regarded as a"necessary evil"' along with the general inflkrx of expatriates to help withi this development. Thiss was a characteristic common to all GCC countries - along with the sentiment that'Ornan would reflect and/or control those imports it did' not need or like.. A distinction had to be drawni between a) a Ministerial Directive - not! absolute and open to discussion in which case the industry hadl to find~ out who was behind it and to whom to make representations; and a Royal Decree - absolute, immediate, and closed to any further discussiom I?). Policy Aims Agreed: To add "Establish a better knowledge of the decision-maki!ng process". III). Threats and existing diffiicultiies Agreed: 11) To draw a distinction between "future" t'hreats (which could be iinminent) and "existing" difficulties with whiich the industty had toi liwe now. To add the issue of greater restriictiions on public smoking as an "imminent" future threat. 3

To re-errnphasise the counter prodbctive nature of any tax increase and to deter the authorities from taking this step. (It was noted that the new Cbmarnerceand.l'mdustryIvl'inister, Iwlaqbooi'Birn, Ali Sultan, had'indicated' Otmanwwould' notrnove~ to 100% ad vaibrem - recorrnnmendiedbyGCC' HealthIV1~irusters - until the UAE had' increased, its import duty, presently, at the official rarte of 30%, because of the r:isk of smuggling frorn, the UAE into Oiman).. TV). Strate~y Agreed: 1) On the need' for META Company representatives, to win and maintairlthe credibility and active co-operation of agents and distributors, Toitnprove the environdnentalrnonirtoring, and, earlywarning, systean, through cornpany, representatives and distributors/agents. To keep Oman,distinct from the UAE as far as,the strategy was concerned and~ not to plan, in terms of the once-discussed UAE-Oman group. Tofmlfill two roles: the message "writer" - META Secretary and Chair company on instructicans~ from META and with BAT involvement. the rnessage"deliverer" to be someonewell-knotivnim the Ornan, private sector, whichmeantinvolving~ albcal distributor. T©rnakedistribut~ors~ aware of~thekey i5suesfacing the industrywhich also impact on~ their profitability: that distributors wxerenow more aware that they could' not "will" a problern away; but rather were more open to receiving and, acting on~ naessages~ frorntheindbstiry. ~ 6) To provide individual briefing papers via theIwfETEA. secretary~and to keep~ thesesirnplie and straight forward. On such subjects, as a} on tobacco and yourth, b) the~ danger~ of~ a~dverth5ing bans tio~ t'he~ private sector~ an& 4

tohighlight~ the qualityand economic contribuRibn made by the~ industry to a coun2ry's CDP. T'otargetkeyofficials, (the coreli5t ofwhi;ch is in AppendflxVI of the revised OWG strategy paper). To use META Company agents plus the media through MEMAC (to be directly i,ntouchwit'h. Omani editorial people) as the key resources, with the secretary talking rmoreto and!visit7bg~ METAeolnpany representatives. To extend the Valumtary. Ciadle~ prihcipl~eto ,Oman once the UAE Codlehad~ been signed - but also to make the Oman code ex-ternal i.e. the authorities t+olcnow about~ it and to be: arovareof such issues as the industry nottar,geting young people(under16);. This morepro-active~ campaignwou~ld form part of the industry'soffiering to, demonstrate to the authorities, t'heirgood~will, and responsibility in selling a quality product. LQ); "Toallocatea budlgetf©rthispro-active campaign. T1~}~ Individual METAcoanpaniestbdlevelbp their own ideas ornmedna and advertising plans,, to comniunicatethese totheauthoritnss„ to befreetocall a press conference at a, time of its/their own choosing and to explain, their own campaign against Trademarks and juvenile smoking. 12) Tbseek to establish a local IAA chapter throughMb~harumed Al KarnaFis Managing Director of Al Omaniya Advertising. Ac~tion~ . All, co~mpa~nies~plus META~ S~ecretary,~ Next Steps . The revised OWG strategy paper would be presented to METAas, an agenda iteznfor the next META nneeting on1Vliarch 6 irn, Londbn. Action : R Allen RRA 30:i:92. 5