Oman Commerce Minister seeks early completion of FTA with India-GCC

New Delhi, Sep 4 (UNI) Oman today asked India to put the ongoing negotiations for Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the six nation Gulf Cooperation Council, on fast track and implement it at the earliest to create a framework for business growth.

Addressing a business delegation meet organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here, Oman minister of Commerce and Industry Maqbool Ali Sultan said India's role was immense in the diversification of Oman's economy.

''The FTA between India and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-- will reach its final stage very soon. Tomorrow, I have a meeting with my counterpart Mr Kamal Nath to make this a fast track agreement as soon as possible,'' Mr Sultan told reporters, adding that other ways to increase mutual trade would also be considered.

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) also include UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Saudi Arabia.

India and the GCC have signed a framework agreement for an FTA and are currently in discussions to finalise the pact. The two sides had held talks in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh early this year, Mr Sultan said.

On the Dabhol project's crisis, Mr Sultan assured the issue will soon be resolved.

Earlier, the Oman Government had threatened to derail fresh gas procurement for restarting operations at the Dabhol station's 740-MW first phase. The erstwhile Dabhol Power Company owes 1.1 billion dollars to the Oman Government as per its take-or-pay agreement for the gas.

Mr Sultan said he would discuss the issue of having more stake in Bharat Oman Refineries Ltd (BORL), a joint venture of Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited and Oman Oil Company Limited.

The JV is setting up a grass root refinery with a capacity of 6 MMTPA in Madhya Pradesh. The refinery is expected to be go on steam by the end of 2009.

However, Mr Sultan said fields like IT, tourism and human resources development and training and knowledge-based industries such as ICTs, pharmaceuticals and biotechnology have immense potential for cooperation between Indian and Omani companies.

The companies of both the countries need to institute a dialogue process, he said He said Oman has established a free zone at Salalah in southern Oman, offering incentives such as a tax holiday for 30 years, no minimum capital requirement or municipal taxes and only 10 percent localization of jobs.

Oman imported goods from India amounted to 397 million dollars last year as against 164 million dollars in 2000, registering a 142 per cent increase. Oman exported goods worth 64 million dollars in 2004, which jumped to 366 million dollars in 2005 to India, posting a growth of 472 per cent.

Mr Sultan attributed this largely to the 969 million dollar joint venture fertiliser project Oman India Fertiliser Company (OMIFCO) that supplies urea to India, he said, adding more such JVs could be set up by companies from the two countries.

Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry Chairman Salem Said Al Ghatami, calling the chamber a single-point contact for both foreign and Omani businesses, said with 120,000 member companies it focused on promoting investments in education, health and tourism.

The third round of India-GCC summit will be held in March, 2007.

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