TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran and Oman on Sunday signed four documents to improve cooperation in various sectors amid an official visit to Tehran by Oman’s Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said.
Tehran and Muscat will boost collaboration in the economic, energy and investment fields as well as free zones.
The documents were inked by Iranian ministers of oil, economic affairs and finance as well as the secretary-general of the Supreme Council of Free Trade-Industrial and Special Economic Zones and Omani minister of energy, finance and trade.
At a press conference with his Omani counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian said, in addition to the four documents, leaders of Iran and Oman seek to finalize a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement in the near future.
Trade exchanges between Iran and Oman have more than doubled since President Raisi paid a visit to Muscat last May, when 12 cooperation documents were signed, Amirabdollahian said.
He expressed hope that the new cooperation agreements will further boost the growing trade between the two countries.
He said Iran and Oman agree on the need to improve shipping cooperation and activate the capacity of the two countries’ ports.
On Sunday Iran and Oman signed an agreement on their joint study on shared Hengam oil field in the Strait of Hormuz, the Persian Gulf.
The agreement is aimed at preparing a Master Development Plan (MDP) for the joint oil field, and different scenarios for further development and bilateral cooperation on exploitation of the field.
The agreement was signed following memorandums of understanding (MoUs) inked during last year’s Oman visit of Iran’s Oil Minister accompanying President Raisi.
Iran had earlier signed several MoUs with neighboring states on integrated development of joint fields, but none of them made progress and led to an agreement. This is the first agreement on cooperation between Iran and a neighboring country in a shared field. This agreement, however, has yet to include the field development, as the development contract is pending and will be signed after the MDP preparation.
Meanwhile Iranian minister of economic affairs and finance announced the signing of an agreement with Oman for setting up a joint investment committee aimed at bolstering bilateral trade.
Seyed Ehsan Khandouzi said a cooperation agreement was inked for launching a joint investment committee between Iran and Oman in the wake of an ongoing visit to Iran by a high-ranking Omani delegation led by Oman’s Sultan.
Under the agreement, the two sides agreed to follow up on the implementation of the deals signed between the senior officials of the two countries, he stated.
Also, a cooperation agreement was agreed between the two sides in the field of supporting bilateral investment which would be inked after it is approved by the Omani parliament, Khandouzi continued.
In response to a question on the prospect of economic relations between the two countries in the future, the economy minister said, “Given the volume of bilateral trade between Iran and Oman that increased significantly following last year’s visit by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi to Muscat, all indications are that the two sides would witness considerable trade boom in the coming year.”
He expressed hope that bilateral joint investment will open a new phase of economic cooperation between the two countries.
