New Delhi: Foreign Minister of Oman Sayyid Badr Hamad Hamood Al Busaidi will be on an official two-day visit to India from Wednesday. This will be Badr's first visit to India in his capacity as Foreign Minister. The Oman FM is expected to hold talks with External Affairs Minister Dr S Jaishankar on Wednesday and National Security Advisor Ajit Doval on Thursday. The major focus of the meetings will be maritime security.
The ministers will undertake a comprehensive review of the progress made in the bilateral strategic partnership between the two countries. Both the leaders will also exchange views on recent regional and international developments. India and Oman have continued close cooperation during the COVID 19 pandemic and maintained high-level contacts.
India is among Oman’s top trading partners and bilateral trade for the current financial year (FY 2021-2022) so far is almost USD 7.5 billion. People-to-people ties is another important facet of the bilateral relationship as Oman is home to approximately 620,000 Indian nationals. Oman is the only country in the Gulf region that holds joint exercises with India’s all three defence forces.
Badr was appointed as Omani Foreign Minister in August 2020 and had earlier served as Secretary-General in Omani Foreign Ministry since 2007. The last Omani foreign minister to visit India was in April 2017, while Jaishankar had visited the country in December 2019.
