Prime Minister attends India-Oman Business Meet in Muscat, Oman( February 12, 2018)
INDIA-OMAN RELATIONS A PRODUCT OF HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY POLITICAL, ECONOMIC AND CULTURAL BONDS
By Dr. Lakshmi Priya *
India and Oman share a strategic and cordial relationship, well reflected in their multi-faceted bilateral engagements across various fields. India as well as Oman have respected each other’ s sovereignty and share an enduring bond which has only been growing stronger with time.
Situated across the Arabian Sea, India is Oman’ s natural partner with which it has been engaged in trade since ancient times. Oman hosts over 800,000 Indian expatriates who send remittances back home and are a constant source of income for India. There are more than 250 flights per week between Muscat and Salalah in Oman and a dozen locations in India. India and Oman conduct regular biennial bilateral military exercises, and the total India-
Oman bilateral trade amounts to $ 6.7 billion( 2017-18). The visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Oman in February 2018 served to further bolster the already warm and cordial relationship between the two countries.
India’ s capital New Delhi is geographically closer to Muscat than many Indian cities. The roots of the India-Oman relationship can be traced to the 5000 year old maritime trade between the two countries. Oman has been bestowed with a topography that isolates it within the Arabian Peninsula as well as keeps it secluded from the outside world. The Gulf of Oman, the Arabian Sea, and the Rub al Khali( Empty Quarter) of Saudi Arabia ensure that the only contact that Oman can have with outer world is through its water ways. It is no wonder,
14 • INDIA-OMAN • 2018