India and Oman are all set to sign a free trade agreement on Thursday, Muscat’s first FTA in about 17 years after it entered into a similar deal with the US, that will further strengthen bilateral strategic ties between the two nations with wider scope ranging from goods, services, investments, green energy and the net-zero.
Jointly addressing the India-Oman Business Forum in Muscat with Oman’s trade minister Qais Al Yousef, Union commerce minister Piyush Goyal said, strong ties between the two nations “have been instrumental in bringing us to this very, very memorable and fateful day tomorrow, when before our two leaders, Qais and I will have the privilege of executing the first free trade agreement Oman is going to sign with a country after 17 long years.” The US-Oman FTA came into force on January 1, 2009.
“I’m pleased to confirm that these negotiations have now been successfully concluded,” Yousef said, adding that the proposed agreement is in its “final” form. Underlining the India visit of Sultan in 2023, which was his first in 25 years.
“That visit launched the partnership for the future frameworks and initiated negotiations on the Oman-India Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, or what is more known as CEPA.” Sultan Haitham bin Tarik made a state visit to India in the mid-December that year.
Goyal says,“India values its relationship with Oman. Our Hon’ble Prime Minister will be arriving here soon to celebrate the 70 years of bilateral relations between the two countries.”
Oman is the last leg of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s three-day official visit to Jordan, Ethiopia and Oman. PM called them “valued partners” in a post on X while embarking on his three-nation tour on December 15, adding that “India has age-old civilisational ties” with these countries.
Speaking about the heads of the two nations, Goyal said, both leaders share very strong bonds of friendship. In fact, for the very first time, Oman was invited to the G20, during the Indian G20 Presidency in 2023. And that reflected the strong relations.
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At that time when these decisions were made, I was the G20 Sherpa and I was quite surprised at that decision when Prime Minister Modi said we want Oman as one of the special guests. And, today, I realise how important, how defining that decision was,” he said at the business forum.
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The proposed FTA offers immense opportunities for all sectors such as textiles, footwear, automobiles, gem and jewellery, agrochemical, renewable energy and auto components, he said.
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“The sky’s the limit, in terms of potential, particularly with Oman opening the door, the gateway to the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region, to Eastern Europe, Central Asia, to Africa,” he said, adding that the two partners can also look at significant collaborations in the services space.