Muscat: The State Council on Tuesday hosted Azzan bin Qasim al Busaidy, advisor of the minister of commerce, industry and investment promotion for economic affairs who presented a visual display on the economic impact of the agreements the Sultanate of Oman signed with countries and economic groups.
Khalid bin Ahmed al Saadi, Secretary-General of the State Council noted that the meeting comes within the framework of the firm communication and cooperation between the government and the State Council. One of the aspects of that cooperation is the hosting of officials to shed light on the activities, plans and programmes of their respective entities.
The advisor of the minister of commerce, industry and investment promotion for economic affairs, spoke about the agreements related to enhancing the economic effect that were signed between the Sultanate of Oman and countries and economic groups namely: free trade and avoidance of double taxation agreements as well as the agreements for mutual encouragement and protection of investments.
The visual display explained the objectives of the free trade agreements particularly boosting trade activities through reducing or removing the obstacles that hamper trade activities.
The presentation reviewed the free trade agreements signed by the Sultanate of Oman and other countries and economic groups. These include the Free Trade Agreement signed with the Greater Arab Free Trade Area (GAFTA) in 1998, the Free Trade Agreement signed with the United States in 2009. The agreement for Omani non-oil exports to the United States of America (USA), and the Free Trade Agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) signed in 2014 and the Free Trade Agreement with Singapore signed in 2015.
The presentation touched on the volume of Omani non-oil exports to countries of the world, and the most important sources of foreign direct investment to the Sultanate of Oman. It also suggested recommendations for maximizing the economic return from free trade agreements.
The presentation also dealt with the objectives of the double taxation avoidance agreements, which aim at providing a legal framework to eliminate double taxation that hinders intra-regional trade and boosting mutual investment between countries, enhancing the competitiveness of Omani investments abroad by ensuring non-discrimination in tax treatment between local investors of these countries. It explained that these agreements contribute to the fight against tax evasion and help improve tax collection.
