8th India-Oman Joint Commission meeting held in Muscat

The eighth session of India-Oman Joint Commission Meeting (JCM) was held in Muscat, Oman on July 16, 2018.

The session was co-chaired by the Union Minister of Commerce & Industry and Civil Aviation, Suresh Prabhu along with the Minister of Industry, Investment, Trade and Digital Economy of Oman, Dr. Ali bin Masoud Al Sunaidy.

Speaking on the occasion, Suresh Prabhu extended an invite to Omani companies to build on their success in India and make investments to benefit from ‘Make in India’ and ‘Invest India’ programmes, which are aimed at encouraging manufacturing. The Minister said that the Indian Government has launched several investment friendly programmes such as ‘Make in India’ with a trillion dollar business opportunity in the country.

Significance

Both India and Oman are keen to expand collaborations to their mutual benefit in the fields of energy, health, business, finance and investments, infrastructure, travel and tourism.

Besides official interactions, people-to-people contact and initiatives by the private sector will help energise cooperation in various sectors.

Key Highlights

• The areas of discussion in the Joint Commission Meeting included cooperation in the area of space, renewable energy, start-ups, SMEs, food security including durable food and packaging, services sector, tourism sector, exchange of ideas and visit of young entrepreneurs.

• The Sultanate of Oman is a strategic partner of India in the Gulf and the two countries enjoy warm and cordial relations. Strong cultural and economic ties have further cemented these bonds.

• India-Oman bilateral trade registered a growth from US$4131.69 million in 2014-15 to US$ 6703.76 million in 2017-18.

• India’s export to Oman grew from US$ 2379.44 million to US$ 2439.46 million in 2017-18.

Background

• A large and diverse Indian Diaspora resides in Oman currently. The Indian community there is spread across a different spectrum of professions.

• The outstanding contributions of Indians and people of Indian Origin in Oman to the strengthening of bilateral relations have been recognised by the Indian Government through Pravasi Bharatiya Samman Awards.

• Besides this, Indian financial institutions including State Bank of India, Bank of Baroda, HDFC Ltd and ICICI Securities and Public Sector Undertakings such as Air India, Life Insurance Corporation(LIC), New India Assurance Co., Telecommunications Consultants India Ltd., Engineers India Ltd., Engineering Projects India Limited and National Building Construction Company have a presence in Oman.

• Indian companies have also invested in Oman in sectors such as iron and steel, cement, fertilizers, textile, cables, chemicals and automotive, especially in Sohar and Salalah.

• India-Oman Joint Investment Fund (OIJIF), a joint venture between State Bank of India and State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) of Oman, a special purpose vehicle to invest in India, has been operational and the initial corpus of US$ 100 million has been fully utilised.

• OIJIF has raised another $ 220 million for the second tranche, which is being invested.

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