New Delhi. In a boost to Indo-Oman maritime relations, the two countries will sign an agreement during Foreign Minister S Jaishankar’s visit on December 24 for cooperation in the field of Maritime Transport enabling Delhi to expand footprints in Western Indian Ocean, Persian Gulf and Eastern Africa.

Ahead of Oman, Jaishankar will visit Iran for the two-day Joint Commission meeting on December 22 and 23 to safeguard India’s interests in the region close on heels of Indo-US 2+2 meet. India has opened more ports to connect with Chabahar.

Oman is a strategic partner of India and the two countries are linked closely by geography, history and culture and enjoy warm and cordial relations attributed to historical maritime trade linkages as well as close links of the Oman’s Royal family with India. The visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Oman in February 2018 was path breaking and has led to further consolidation of close ties as well as identifying new areas of cooperation.

Oman has allowed India including Navy access to its Duqm port.

India is among Oman’s top trading partners. During 2018-19, bilateral trade was $ 5 billion. In 2018, India was the second largest importer of crude oil from Oman. There are over 7,80,000 Indian citizens in Oman, second largest expatriate community in the country.

This will be the first visit of External Affairs Minister to Oman after the new government in India took over in May 2019. The visit is in pursuit of India’s objective of enhanced engagement with the Gulf region which is in India’s extended neighbourhood.

It will provide an opportunity to hold in-depth discussions with the political leadership on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues and will advance India’s growing engagement with Oman and the region.