Saturday 04 / May / 2024
Washington: The Sultanate of Oman and the United States of America (USA) on Wednesday explored means of promoting trade and investment, in addition to addressing shared challenges during the 2nd Strategic Dialogue held in Washington.
The Omani side was chaired by Sheikh Khalifa Ali Al Harthy, Undersecretary of the Foreign Ministry for Political Affairs whilst the USA side was chaired by Jose W. Fernandez, Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment at the US Department of State,
The two sides discussed the opportunities for US companies in the Omani market, highlighting information and communication technology services, semiconductors, and clean energy as areas of opportunity.
The two countries explored opportunities to collaborate on demonstrating and deploying carbon capture, use, and storage, and carbon dioxide removal technologies, including via technical exchanges, investment, and trade missions. US-Oman cooperation on geologic carbon was reinforced by a technical workshop hosted in Muscat in September 2023 by Oman’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals in collaboration with the US Department of Energy and the signing of MoU between Oman’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals and US firm Eden GeoPower to study and demonstrate the potential of stimulated hydrogen production in Oman.
The two sides committed to pursue new avenues to strengthen cooperation in developing clean energy solutions, including by leveraging US private sector expertise, as well as opportunities for investment in critical minerals necessary for the clean energy transition.
Both countries followed up on environmental priorities within the framework of the US-Oman Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Cooperation. They explored ways to connect researchers from Omani universities with their colleagues in American research centers and universities to enhance scientific research on clean energy.
Both sides welcomed continuing cooperation on education, culture, and science, citing the selection of Oman’s first nominees for the Fulbright Visiting Scholars Program in nearly 10 years as a major milestone.
The United States and Oman look forward to expanding cultural, educational, and scientific exchanges in priority fields, including artificial intelligence, downstream space applications, higher education, clean energy, inclusive education, and the media and film industries.
The two sides also decided to explore new ways to increase the number of Omani students studying in the United States, and US students studying in Oman.
The United States and the Sultanate of Oman are committed to maintaining the exchange of high-level bilateral visits, including the goal of scheduling the next round of the Strategic Dialogue in 2025.
The two sides also discussed ways to promote mutual prosperity, including through the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed last year (2023) between the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Oman Ministry of Finance to facilitate procurement of up to $500 million of goods and services for projects in Oman and through the newly-established Commercial Attaché’s office at the Embassy of Oman in Washington.
