Growth and investment on agenda of Qais Al Yousef’s India trip

Muscat: High-level talks with key Indian businesses and government organisations are on the agenda of Qais Al Yousef, the Omani Minister of Commerce and Industry, during his ongoing trip to India as part of efforts to encourage more growth and investment in Oman.

Accompanied by senior management from Oman Investment Authority, Oman Chamber of Commerce & Industry, the Public Authority for Special Economic Zones and Free Zones and Madayn, Al Yousef will hold high-level talks with senior management from Tata Steel, Hitachi, HCL, the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry and NITI Aayog, the Government of India’s leading policy think tank.

Indian investment in Oman which topped US$7.5 billion in 2022 was one of the key topics discussed by meeting participants with Al Yousef noting the great interest expressed in the success of the Invest Easy portal.

The minister said: “Since April 2021, we have seen a 94.8 per cent increase in the number of Indian businesses registering with Invest Easy, this is up from 450 in 2019 to 877 in 2021. This uptick shows the great faith Indian companies have in Oman. A remarkable achievement that has been made possible thanks to the opportunities opened up by Oman Vision 2040, which, while future-focused, is already having a positive impact on attracting investment into Oman and our economy in general.”

Cutting red tape is Invest Easy’s one-stop-shop for investors, issuing licenses from 10 leading authorities and approvals for more than 1,500 economic activities in one single e-transaction. Since the launch of the ministry’s new service in April 2021, over 196,000 licenses have been issued, 23,000 of which to foreign investors, a year-on-year rise of 305 per cent.

Part of the delegation is Redha bin Juma Al Saleh, the chairman of the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which also held a series of meetings with Indian businesses. A number of private sector companies are also a part of the delegation.

A number of Omani business owners and their counterparts from India held bilateral meetings that discussed the conclusion of trade and investment partnerships The Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI) is also participating in the meetings along with a commercial delegation which includes a number of business owners from various economic sectors in the Sultanate, alongside the government delegation that is currently visiting India.
The private sector delegation met with a number of investment companies to discuss the different investment opportunities in the various sectors of food security, industry, energy, logistics, and construction.

 “The chamber was keen that the Omani commercial delegation that is currently visiting India includes a number of business owners in the Sultanate in order to directly meet their Indian counterparts to be able to achieve valuable partnerships that will have positive reactions on raising trade and investment exchange levels between the two sides, based on the role entrusted to the private sector to work towards achieving these goals,” said Al Saleh.