The 10th session of the India-Oman joint commission meeting (JCM) took place in New Delhi on Wednesday. The meeting was co-chaired by Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal and his Omanian counterpart Qais bin Mohammed al Yousef.
The key element of the meeting was to launch a joint feasibility study for a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA). “Oman had requested PTA on limited items,” said a senior commerce department official. So as part of the joint feasibility study, both nations will look into reducing tariffs on select items of export interest.
Srikar Reddy, the joint secretary of the department of commerce, said, “We are also negotiating a free trade agreement with GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), of which Oman is also a member.
Oman will also be a party to GCC FTA when it is complete. Meanwhile, they suggested that they can consider a PTA. For that, India said both nations need to do a feasibility study jointly. That’s was what decided today.”
GCC is an intergovernmental political-economic union of Gulf countries comprising — Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Recently, India and UAE signed a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA).
The JCM held on Wednesday was attended by a 48-member delegation from Oman. It included senior officials from the government and business representatives from multiple industry domains like healthcare, pharmaceuticals, mining, tourism, telecommunications, energy, shipping, and real estate.
The bilateral trade between Oman and India grew by 86 percent last year — from $5.4 billion in FY21 to $9.94 billion in FY22. Oman is now India’s 31st-largest trading partner.
Among the key outcomes of the meeting was fast-tracking approvals needed to register Indian Pharmaceutical products already registered by the USFDA, UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency, and European Medicines Agency. Both countries also agreed to release a market research report prepared by the Indian embassy in Muscat on the Pharmaceutical sector in Oman — highlighting strategies and opportunities for Indian companies in Oman.
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