A senior official of the Oman Olympic Committee (OOC) Saturday said that his country is ready for the upcoming Beijing Olympic torch relay in the Omani capital of Muscat.

The Olympic flame will arrive in Muscat in early morning on April 14 from Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

Habib Macki, vice chairman of the OOC, briefed the preparation works for the torch relay in Muscat, the ninth leg of the global journey.

He said Oman is a safe country with a harmonious society, stressing that the organizers have taken necessary measures to secure the process of the torch relay.

According to the organizers, the starting point of the torch relay is at Al Bustan roundabout in the eastern part of the coast city, where lies the duplicate of an ancient Omani wooden boat that sailed to China more than 1,000 years ago.

The 20-km-long route of the torch relay, which will start at local time 5:00 p.m. (1300 GMT) on April 14, stretched along the coast, old Muscat and ended at Al Qurm Natural Park in central Muscat.

(Xinhua News Agency April 13, 2008)