Talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Haitham bin Tarik, the Sultan of Oman at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi have been called productive as they adopted a new “Bharat-Oman Joint Vision”, which will be a partnership for future focusing on ten essential areas.
The Sultan of Oman arrived in Bharat on December 15 and was accorded a ceremonial welcome in the Rashtrapati Bhawan on Saturday by President Droupadi Murmu and PM Narendra Modi. This marks his first trip to Bharat as the top leader of the influential Gulf nation.
Speaking at the meeting of the joint delegation, PM Modi stated that the joint vision seeks to carry out concrete action points that have been agreed upon in ten different areas. Expressing confidence, PM Modi stated that the joint vision will give a new and modern shape to their partnership.
PM Modi termed Sultan’s maiden visit to Bharat as “historic” and congratulated the nation for qualifying for the T20 cricket world cup next year, being co-hosted by West Indies and the US. It is learnt that the two nations also held discussions regarding the ongoing Israel-Hamas war.
The two sides also held talks focused on areas such as political, security, defence, trade, economic, cultural, and people-to-people ties. According to the Ministry of External Affairs, Oman is Bharat’s closest defence partner in the Gulf region, while defence cooperation is emerging as the key pillar of the strategic partnership.
One of the key objectives for the Sultanate of Oman visiting Bharat is finalising a free trade agreement (FTA). One of the sources, on condition of anonymity, stated that Bharat is close to signing an FTA with Oman, similar to that signed with the United Arab Emirates last year.
Oman is the only country in West Asia with which all three services of the Indian Armed Forces conduct regular bilateral exercises and service-level staff talks. Under Bharat’s G20 Presidency, it extended a special invitation to the Sultanate of Oman to participate in G20 summits and meetings as a guest nation.
Both nations share a long-standing friendship rooted in historical, cultural, and economic ties, whereas their People-to-people ties go back to 5000 years. The diplomatic relations between the two countries were Established in 1955 and were upgraded to a Strategic partnership in 2008.
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