FTA, investments and education on table during Oman ruler’s India visit
₹5.4 billion in 2020-21 to ₹12.3 billion in 2022-23, they added. The two sides are also expected to discuss measures to strengthen the partnership on education. This may include a move to create an exchange and scholarship programme to have more Indian students study in Oman and vice-versa.
According to the persons cited above, an agreement and a slew of MoUs are expected to be signed during the visit. Oman has long been seen as one of India’s closest partners in the Middle East. The two sides have shared a close defence relationship, with all three defence services conducting military exercises with their Omani counterparts.
In 2018, Indian naval vessels gained access to the strategically valuable Duqm port, which allowed India to expand its maritime defence network in the Western Indian Ocean. India’s Navy Chief R. Hari Kumar and National Security Adviser Ajit Doval also visited Duqm port this year.
Duqm has also become more important for India’s economic security and to secure Indian vessels “We are going to be importing oil and gas from West Asia for the next three decades and we have to secure these imports. In the military, there is a sense that we have to be capable of securing our own trade routes. We can’t be dependent on others to bail us out in case something happens," says Kabir Taneja, fellow at the Observer Research Foundation, a think-tank.
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