New Delhi: External Affairs Minister of India, H.E. Dr. S Jaishankar was visited to Sultanate of Oman on 24 December 2019 at the invitation of H.E. Yousuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah, Minister Responsible for Foreign Affairs, who last visited India in July 2017. During his visit, EAM, in addition to meeting his counterpart, was hold meetings with other ministers to discuss matters of mutual interest. An agreement for cooperation in the field Maritime Transport will be signed during the visit. EAM was also interacting with the Indian community in Muscat during the visit.
The Sultanate of Oman is a strategic partner of India and the two countries are linked closely by geography, history and culture and enjoy warm and cordial relations attributed to historical maritime trade linkages as well as close links of the Oman’s Royal family with India. The visit of Prime Minister Modi to Oman in February 2018 was path breaking and has led to further consolidation of our close ties as well as identifying new areas of cooperation.
India is among Oman’s top trading partners. During 2018-19, bilateral trade was US$ 5 billion. In 2018, India was the second largest importer of crude oil from Oman. There are over 7,80,000 Indian citizens in Oman, second largest expatriate community in the country.
This was the first visit of External Affairs Minister to Oman after the new government in India took over in May 2019. The visit was in pursuit of India’s objective of enhanced engagement with the Gulf region which is in India’s extended neighbourhood. It will provide an opportunity to hold in-depth discussions with the political leadership on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues and will advance India’s growing engagement with Oman and the region.