Sultan of Oman His highness Haitham Bin Tariq arrived on a three-day state visit to India on 15 December. On second day of his visit, he met prime minister Modi at The Hyderabad House. Earlier The sultan was accorded with tri-service Guard of honor at the forecourt of the Rashtra Pati Bhawan.
PM Modi will also host a luncheon in honor of the sultan.
Diplomatic relations between India and the Middle eastern Kingdom were established in 1955. These relations were upgraded to strategic partnership in 2008.
Indian Prime Ministers have been regular visitors to the kingdom. PM Modi visited Oman in 2018.
This is first state visit of Omani sultan to India after 25 years. Last visit was, when late sultan His Majesty Sultan Qaboos visited India in 1995.
The bilateral trade between India and Oman has more than doubled from 5.4 billion USD in 2021-2022 to 9.9 billion USD in 2022-2023.
India is third largest trading partner of Oman. With more than 6,000 joint ventures going on between two countries with investment of more than 7.5 billion USD.
As of 2023, 1,744 Indian companies have invested in Oman in various sectors.
Oman is only west Asian country with which India conducts Tri-service Military exercises on a regular basis.
India is a major destination for Omani Students looking for higher studies. There has been a considerable boom in medical trade from Oman in India. There are more than 7 Lakh Indian workers, contributing in economic growth of the kingdom and sending remittances to India.
Oman was among 9 guest member countries invited by India to participate in G-20 summit.