Muscat,
The 12th session of Omani-Turkish Joint Committee, held in Muscat today, discussed areas of investment and economic cooperation between the two countries.
The Omani side was headed by Qais Mohammed Al Yousef, Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, while Mehmet Simsek, Minister of Treasury and Finance of the Republic of Türkiye, headed his country’s side.
Al Yousef commended the historically deep-rooted relations between the two countries, which, he said, were recently embodied by the visit of His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik to the Republic of Türkiye. He described the two countries’ relationship as a “model of fruitful cooperation”.
“This session is pursuance of efforts made to enhance economic and commercial relations, based on Royal directives,” said Al Yousef, noting that the meeting would help augment the volume of commercial exchange and encourage the establishment of joint economic projects through the Omani-Türkiye joint investment fund that was launched during the visit of His Majesty the Sultan to the Republic.
Al Yousef stressed that the Sultanate of Oman is developing cooperation among educational institutions to enhance research and innovation in the fields of technology, healthcare, food security and other areas. He said that Turkish investments in the Sultanate of Oman grew by 328.5 percent during 2023, noting that the number of Turkish companies operating in Oman went up by 68 percent.
For his part, Mehmet Simsek stressed the need to accelerate negotiations about the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the GCC states and Türkiye. He said that ‘the comparative advantage’ of the Sultanate of Oman serves as an encouraging factor for the attraction of Turkish investments in many areas like defence industries, artificial intelligence and mining.
The meeting showed that lucrative sectors for joint cooperation include renewable energy, logistics, tourism, converting industries and agriculture. It also touched on negotiations for an envisaged GCC- Türkiye free trade agreement.
The two sides also discussed the importance of trade and investment forums targeting the promotion of private sector industrial products and the importance of showcasing available investment opportunities through chambers of commerce in cooperation with the ministries concerned.
Oman is keen to consolidate bilateral relations and explore new vistas of partnership with Türkiye in a manner that achieves common interests and supports sustainable development for the Omani and Turkish peoples.
Omani exports to the Republic of Türkiye until July 2024 stood at RO 51.7 million, while the total imports of the Sultanate of Oman from the Republic of Türkiye until July 2024 reached RO 131.2 million.
By August 2024, the number of registered companies that have Turkish stake stood at 849.
The volume of commercial exchange between the two countries by the end of 2023 stood at about RO 315 million.
By the end of 2023, Oman and Türkiye signed 12 agreements and memoranda of understanding related to framing economic, commercial and technical cooperation. Those included the “agreement on encouragement and mutual protection of investments”, the agreement on “avoidance of double taxation” and memoranda of understanding for cooperation between the chambers of commerce, in addition to other pacts in the fields of tourism, agriculture, air transport and the environment.
The meeting session attended by Dr. Saleh Said Masan, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion for Commerce and Industry, Pankaj Khimji, Advisor for Foreign Trade and International Cooperation at the Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion, Mehmet Hakimoğlu, Ambassador of the Republic of Turkiye to the Sultanate of Oman, and other officials from both sides.
