Industries Minister Leads Iranian Delegation to Oman

Minister of Industries, Mining and Trade Mohammad Shariatmadari and his accompanying delegation visited Oman to attend the 17th round of Iran-Oman Economic Commission held on Tuesday.

The Omani side was to be chaired in the two-day meetings by Minister of Commerce and Industry Ali bin Mas’oud Al Sunaidi.

The two sides were to discuss development of bilateral ties between the Sultanate and Islamic Republic in the fields of trade, economy, investment, transport, communications, minerals, oil and gas, manpower and agriculture, as well as cooperation between the Governorate of Musandam and the Iranian province of Hormozgan, Times of Oman reported.

A memorandum of understanding between the Omani Export Credit Guarantee Agency (Credit Oman) and the Iranian Export Guarantee Agency was going to be signed during the meetings.

A joint meeting between Omani businessmen and their Iranian counterparts was also scheduled on the sidelines of the meetings.

Shariatmadari had set up meetings with Omani government and private sector officials.

According to Iran’s Embassy in Muscat, as many as 25 trade delegations from the private sector were exchanged between the commerce chambers of the two countries in the last fiscal year (March 2017-18).  

Iran traded $736.63 million worth of non-oil goods with Oman in the last fiscal year, marking a 13.63% rise compared to the year before to make the Arab country Iran’s 22nd biggest trading partner.

As per the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration’s data, Iran exported 1.74 million tons of commodities worth $520.71 million to Oman last year, posting a 24.46% growth and a 4.28% decline in tonnage and value respectively year-on-year.

The exports mainly included direct reduced iron, semi-finished metal, steel products, low-density oils and related products.

Oman exported 256,936 tons of goods worth $215.92 million to Iran during the period, up 186% and 107.06% in tonnage and value respectively YOY. Iran mainly imported benzene, pharmaceutical supplements and vehicles from Oman last year.