Sultan of Oman visits India: A big boost to bilateral partnership

The Head of State of the Sultanate of Oman, Sultan Haitham bin Tarik paid a three-day State visit to India from 15 December, 2023. This was the first visit by Sultan Haitham to India after he ascended the throne on 11 January, 2020. He succeeded his cousin Sultan Qaboos bin Said who had ruled the country for nearly 50 years after coming to the throne by engineering a coup and deposing his father, the then Sultan Said bin Taimur, with British help in 1970. Sultan Qaboos played an exceptional role in cementing and propelling the multifaceted ties with India. The visit by Sultan Haitham sought to take that relationship forward to the next level. The setting India and Oman share a long-standing friendship rooted in historical, cultural, civilisational and economic ties. The people to people contact between the two countries can be traced back to around 5,000 years. Diplomatic ties between the two countries were established in 1955 and relationship was upgraded to a strategic partnership in 2008. Oman is a small country with an area of around 300,000 sq. km., a population of around 5.5 million and a per capita GDP in PPP terms of around $39,000. It has a high Human Development Index (HDI) of 0.82. All its prosperity and riches accrued to it after Sultan Qaboos assumed power in 1970. Prior to that, although oil in commercial quantities was discovered in the country in 1964 and exported in 1967, Sultan Qaboos’s father, the then Sultan did nothing to use the wealth to improve the conditions of his people. On the contrary, on account of internal revolts supported from the outside by Saudi Arabia, Egypt and China, he became a recluse and got increasingly isolated from his people. He even kept his son, the future Sultan Qaboos under virtual house arrest, after the latter returned from his military training in the UK in 1966. As sultan, Qaboos implemented a policy of modernisation and ended Oman’s international isolation. His reign saw a rise in living standards and development in the country, the abolition of slavery, the end of domestic insurgency, and the promulgation of  Oman’s constitution. During his 50-year reign, Sultan Qaboos transformed Oman into a country that punched well above its weight in international affairs. Oman has distinguished itself as a player that is able to maintain strong working relationships with countries across the Middle East, despite fierce rivalries and deep-set conflicts. The sultanate’s focus on balanced foreign policy, conflict resolution and skillful mediation makes it unique among Arab governments. Omani prominence in the region thus far has been largely tied to Sultan Qaboos’ decades in power and carefully cultivated personal relationships. It is likely to take quite some time and effort for Sultan Haitham to attain a similar stature. Notwithstanding its small size and comparatively modest economy, Oman has pursued an independent and balanced foreign policy, at times opposed to its larger neighbour Saudi Arabia and the UAE. The Saudi-Emirati bloc and Oman diverge on many foreign policy points, including the war in Yemen, relations with Iran, and the Qatar blockade.  Oman did not join the Saudi- and Emirati-led coalition in Yemen in 2015 and has instead focused on mediation and humanitarian efforts there. Unlike the Saudis and Emiratis, Oman maintains a working relationship with Iran and does not characterize Tehran as an outright adversary. After the Saudis, Emiratis and others initiated a blockade of Qatar in 2017, Oman not only declined to participate in the blockade but in fact increased its engagement with Doha. In 2018, trade between Oman and Qatar  increased by over 100 per cent compared to the previous year. Oman was one of the most instrumental players in the evolution of the Iran nuclear deal (JCPOA) in 2015. Oman plays a constructive role in Arab-Israeli negotiations also. Much before the Abraham Accords, it hosted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Muscat in 2018. The visit The visit by Sultan Haitham was the first in over 25 years since his predecessor Sultan Qaboos visited India in 1997. The reason for this long gap in visiting India by the Omani Head of State was in part due to the ill health of Sultan Qaboos in his later years in life. Sultan Qaboos was also awarded the Gandhi Peace Prize for 2019 posthumously. Most recently, in the exchanges of high-level bilateral visits, Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Oman in February 2018. Sultan Haitham’s visit has assumed added significance as it followed Oman’s successful participation as a special guest country in the G20 during India’s presidency of that organisation. The fact that Oman was invited as one of the nine countries by India as a special guest to the G20 deliberations and the Summit, is indicative of the importance and significance attached by India to this relationship. Sultan Haitham was accompanied on this visit by a high-level delegation comprising of his Deputy Prime Minister for defence, seven Cabinet Ministers, and three Vice Ministers. Discussions between Prime Minister Modi and Sultan Haitham were comprehensive and constructive and covered the entire range of bilateral engagement, including maritime cooperation, trade and investment cooperation, cooperation in new areas, including space, financial technology etc. The leaders shared concern on the problems of terrorism. They also discussed possible elements of cooperation in the field of energy security, particularly green energy and the possibilities to further strengthen people-to-people ties, including through the popular game of cricket in both the countries. Prime Minister Modi and Sultan Haitham exchanged perspective on regional and international issues. They adopted the India-Oman Joint Vision, a partnership for future. The joint vision envisages a path for future bilateral engagement which is rooted in Oman Vision 2040, which is Oman’s national development blueprint under Sultan Haitham, and India’s development vision under the Amrit Kaal vision. This vision document focuses on building partnership between India and Oman in broadly eight to ten areas, which include maritime cooperation and connectivity; energy security and green energy, in particular green hydrogen; space for digital payments, including other ecosystem industries of fintech; health, tourism and hospitality-related partnership, disaster management, agriculture and food security and cricket. The two countries also signed MoUs including in the field of information technology, cooperation in the field of culture, combating financial crimes and establishment of an ICCR Hindi chair in a prominent University in Oman. The subject of ongoing discussions between the two countries for concluding a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) also received considerable attention by the two leaders. Although the negotiations on CEPA started only recently, they have made substantial progress. Both leaders encouraged the negotiators to conclude the CEPA discussions as early as possible. Bilateral trade and commercial engagement has been growing at a rapid pace and currently stands at roughly $12.5 billion in 2022-23, a figure that has doubled over the last few years. India is among Oman’s top trading partners. India is the 2nd largest market, after China, for Oman’s crude oil exports for the year 2022. India is also the second largest market for Oman’s non-oil exports for the year 2022 after Saudi Arabia, and third largest source of its import after UAE and Saudi Arabia. India’s exports to Oman in FY 2022-23 were $4.5 billion. India’s imports from Oman in FY2022-2023 were $7.9 billion. Investment flows, both ways, have been robust, as reflected in numerous joint ventures, established both in India and Oman. There are over 6,000 India-Oman joint ventures in Oman with an estimated investment of over $7.5 billion. Conclusion of a CEPA between the two countries will provide a significant impulse to bilateral commercial and economic engagement. A significant achievement in terms of India-Oman trade and capital cooperation was the announcement of the third tranche of the Oman-India Joint Investment Fund. This tranche would be worth $300 million. The fund was established as a 50-50 joint venture between the State Bank of India and the Oman Investment Authority, which essentially channelises investments into the fastest-growing sectors of the Indian economy. The initial two tranches – the first one valued at $100 million and the second at roughly $200 million, and the current third one captures the underlying commitment and determination of the two countries to forge a strong base of economic ties through direct capital investments in the growing sectors of the Indian economy. In addition to the above, just before the visit, a joint commemorative postage stamp depicting traditional folk dances of Oman and India was issued. Conclusion India-Oman relations have over recent years evolved into a strategic partnership, characterised by strong cooperation across a range of areas in diverse fields. Oman is a crucial pillar of India’s West Asia Policy and its oldest regional strategic partner. Political engagement between the two countries has increasingly taken on a more strategic character. India and Oman are partners in maritime security in the Western Indian Ocean. Both sides enjoy robust and multidimensional defense engagement. Oman is also host to a large Indian diaspora. About 7 lakh Indians call Oman their home and have in the process made significant and meaningful contribution to the development of Oman’s economy. The visit by Sultan Haitham bin Tarik provided a significant shot in the arm to the partnership between India and Oman. It marked a significant milestone in political, strategic, diplomatic and economic ties between the two countries. In addition to reaffirming the deep-rooted and multifaceted relations between the two countries and their people spanning thousands of years, the leaders provided an ambitious road map of cooperation in the coming decades covering space, maritime and defense cooperation, renewables, digital payment infrastructure, information technology, combatting terror financing and money laundering, healthcare and several more. The two sides identified synergies between their future development plans encompassing the Amrit Kaal Vision of India to transform the country into a developed society by 1947, the hundredth anniversary of India’s independence, and Oman’s Vision 2040 to achieve a similar outcome by 2040. Like other countries in the Gulf, Oman is also trying a growth path for itself not dependent on fossil fuels which have significantly fuelled its economy over the last 50 years. Significance of Sultan Haitham’s visit increases even further considering the time at which it has taken place when the West Asian region is plagued by one of the most destructive conflicts that the region has witnessed over the past several decades. It also demonstrates that both Oman and India share similar values of resolving disputes and conflicts through negotiations, dialogue and diplomacy. The writer is executive council member, Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, president, Institute of Global Studies, Distinguished Fellow, Ananta Aspen Centre, and former Ambassador of India to Kazakhstan, Sweden and Latvia. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect Firstpost_’s views._ Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.