Thursday 25 / April / 2024
Muscat: The Indian Economic Times Magazine has said that Oman represents a moderate voice of peace and tolerance in the world, and that, accordingly, peace and stability prevail in all parts of the Sultanate.
In a report published on its website, the journal pointed out that the Sultanate never witnessed a single terrorist operation and that no Omani citizen was found to be a member of any terrorist organisation in the region or at the world level. The Sultanate remained for centuries a proponent of peace and preached peace from North Africa to Indonesia.
The pluralistic tolerance model of the Sultanate made the country a friend of all countries of the world and enabled it to establish wide-scale strategic partnerships with many countries, including India, with Oman figuring as the oldest strategic partner of India in the region.
The paper referred to India’s announcement of the state of mourning last January upon the death of late Sultan Qaboos Bin Said Bin Taimour, who was the closest partner of India in the West Asia region for decades.
The Economic Times also elaborated on the Port of Duqm which, it said, has been designed to become the largest deep sea port along the Indian Ocean route. In this context, the journal referred to a joint project between Oman and India, which cooperated to set up, in Duqm, a sebacic project to the tune of $1.2 billion, the largest in the Middle East.
The magazine added that the two countries also signed an accord to develop an integrated tourism complex in Duqm at a cost of $ 748 million. It said that Omani seaports and industrial estates established along the Sultanate’s 3,165-km coast make the country an ideal hub to global companies, including Indian companies.
The Indian journal noted that free zone in Duqm offers a 30-year no-tax grace period to companies, zero customs fees and 100% foreign ownership, as well as 50-year, renewable usufructs. No income tax, freedom to cash currencies and stable rates of growth are but a few of other incentives offered to foreign firms at Duqm, said the Economic Times.
It explained that India is one of the biggest trade partners of the Sultanate and that commercial exchange between the two countries in 2018-2019 stood at $ 5 billion.
India is the second largest importer of Oman crude, said Economic Times, adding that investments between the two countries flow strongly on both sides and that this is evidenced in joint projects totaling $ 7.5 billion.
