Oman, UAE ties built on openness, cooperation

@vinot_nair –

The UAE is celebrating its 50th National Day on Thursday. Over the years, the Sultanate of Oman’s relationship with the UAE has been exceptional built on trust, openness and cooperation.

The leaders of the two countries have always stressed on the strong relations of cooperation among the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) and both sides have always found ways to boost expand ties that bring the two countries together.

On Wednesday, His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik sent a congratulatory message to Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan, President of the State of the United Arab Emirates, on the 50th National Day of the United Arab Emirates.

“Leaders have always stressed the importance of exchanging visits to deepen ties between the two brotherly countries and the need to open more avenues for cooperation in all fields, including the joint coordination’’, the official statements quoting both sides have said.

On the business side, the UAE has been Oman’s biggest trading partner and the non-oil exports between the two countries increased 28.7 per cent to RO 389.9 million in the first six months of 2021 (January-June), compared to RO 302.1 million during the same period in 2020.

The re-exports between the two countries also increased by 32.3 per cent to RO 229.6 million in the first six months of 2021 (January-June), compared to RO 226.4 million during the same period in 2020.

The imports from the UAE to Oman also increased from RO 1,582.5 million in 2020 to RO 1,930 million in 2021.

While the capital Muscat is only 500 km away from the UAE’s commercial hub of Dubai, the other cities in Northern Oman are less than three hours drive from the UAE.

Everyday, thousands of people seamlessly commute between the countries in private vehicles, trucks and even passenger buses.

Oman is popular among UAE tourists for its wadis, beaches and mountains and deserts.

The UAE and the Sultanate of Oman, through Etihad Credit Insurance (ECI) and the Export Credit Guarantee Company of Oman (Credit Oman), have signed an agreement to boost exports and further grow non-oil trade between the two countries, according to a statement released on Sunday.

Under the agreement, ECI and Credit Oman will form a task force to explore the areas of cooperation in the fields of insurance; reinsurance; collections; commercial information and credit opinion sharing on companies located in both the UAE and the Sultanate of Oman.