The former head of the Iran-Oman Joint Chamber of Commerce said Omani Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said's, visit to Iran could pave the way for boosting two-way economic and financial ties.
The Omani leader arrived in Tehran on Sunday for a two-day visit.
“One main item on the itinerary is economic cooperation” during talks between the Sultan and President Ebrahim Raisi. If agreements are reached, we can expect increase in bilateral economic relations,” Mohsen Zarabi was quoted as saying by IBENA.
Zarabi recalled Muscat’s key role in helping restore normal ties between Tehran and other countries. "Regarding building economic interaction, banking and trade transactions with other nations, some infrastructure is in place, However, given the potential that exists in the country, it is not enough.”
“For example, a messaging system was introduced recently, and the Central Bank of Iran made progress in negotiations with its Omani counterpart. We hope that during the Sultan’s two day visit we can finalize and implement it."
The former chamber official added, "Another important objective of the visit is to forge closer banking ties. For instance, the establishment of an exchange office in Oman has been proposed and we expect this topic to be finalized during the visit."
"The sultanate has free trade agreements [FTA] with 16 Arab-African countries, the United States, Singapore, and four European countries: Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Sweden. For this reason, if we move 30% of our production to the Oman free zones we too can benefit from the FTAs. In other words, our goods can be exported to other regions with zero tariffs," Zarabi said.
In his opinion, to be able to benefit from Omani facilities, “our producers must have foreign currency accounts other than the Omani rial in that country. This is one of topics that will be discussed during the high-profile visit.
It is natural that if agreements are reached, an Iranian company that goes to Oman for production can send and receive LCs and buy raw material. Moreover, the process of sales can be via other world currencies."
One of the programs that was sent to joint chamber was the barter system. “The Omani minister of industry has approved the proposal in the presence of representatives from the CBI and the chamber.”
However, he added that barter does not necessarily mean only with Oman. “Oman will act as a hub between Iran and other countries so that the cost of transferring money would be reduced.”
