India, Oman to Sign Free Trade Pact in Muscat
The minister also said that Oman is signing FTA after a gap of about 20 years and the country last inked a similar agreement with the US in January 2006
New Delhi: The government on Wednesday confirmed that India and Oman would sign a free trade agreement on Thursday in Muscat with an aim to boost economic ties between the two countries. “It will be signed in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is on a four-day, three-nation visit. Commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal has already reached Muscat for the FTA signing and he is actively participating at the business summit there as well,” a commerce ministry official said.
Talks for the free trade agreement or FTA, officially termed as comprehensive economic partnership agreement (CEPA), formally began in November 2023 and the negotiations concluded this year. In such a deal, the two trading partners are expected to either significantly reduce or eliminate customs duties on a maximum number of goods traded between them and both sides also ease norms to promote trade in services and attract investments.
Meanwhile, commerce minister Goyal also confirmed that India and Oman will be signing a FTA on Thursday. “The FTA offers “immense opportunities” in a number of sectors, including textiles, footwear, automobiles, gems and jewellery, renewable energy, and auto components,” he said, while speaking at the Oman-India Business Forum in Muscat.
The minister also said that Oman is signing FTA after a gap of about 20 years and the country last inked a similar agreement with the US in January 2006. “A huge potential is there to increase cooperation in sectors such as textiles, footwear, auto and auto components, gems and jewellery, agrochemicals, and renewable energy,” he said.
Goyal also said that there are four broad areas in which the two countries can collaborate with each other. “One is in the energy transition that both are committed to, whether it’s renewable sources of energy, battery storage, green hydrogen, that whole ecosystem can open up between Oman and India and together for the rest of the world,” he said.
The second area, he said, was in infrastructure, multi-modal logistics, and export warehouses. “Another area would be food security. We can help Oman ensure food security, whether we can work together to make this a hub from where we work for the rest of the several reaches that I just described, food parks, there is a lot of potential in this area,” he added.
India already has a similar agreement with another GCC member, the UAE, which came into effect in May 2022. The other members of the council are Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar. India and Qatar too will soon start talks for a trade pact. India-Oman bilateral trade was about $10.5 billion (exports $4 billion and imports $6.54 billion) in 2024-25.