India and Oman will endeavour to implement the India-Oman free trade agreement, signed on December 18, within the next three months, Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday (December 19, 2025).

Watch: ‘Signing of the India–Oman CEPA a major milestone’

Under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Oman has offered zero-duty access on over 98 of its tariff lines or product categories, covering 99.38% of India’s exports to the Gulf country.

All major labour-intensive sectors, including gems and jewellery, textiles, leather, footwear, sports goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural products, engineering products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and automobiles, will attract nil duty. These goods, at present, attract import duties in the range of 5-100% in Oman.

On the other hand, India is offering duty concessions on 77.79% of its total tariff lines (12,556), which covers 94.81% of India’s imports from Oman by value.

The Oman-U.S. trade deal was finalised in 2006, but was implemented in January 2009. “The Oman Minister and I have discussed that this agreement, we will try to operationalise within three months,” Mr. Goyal told reporters in New Delhi.

When asked about the areas where Indian businesses can invest in Oman, Mr. Goyal said sectors like steel, energy, education, and healthcare hold huge potential.

“Those which require natural resources will be the ones [where Indian firms would like to invest]. A large steel investment is coming up for producing green steel,” Mr. Goyal said, adding that there is a lot of interest in Oman to collaborate with India because they have large land banks.

One can explore investment in the energy sector, where energy can be converted into green hydrogen or green ammonia and exported to the rest of the world, which will provide Indians an opportunity for exports and create jobs for Indian people, Mr. Goyal pointed out.

“There is a huge amount of potential for processing of large volumes of marble…huge amounts of investment interests in education, healthcare…some people are also looking at battery manufacturing in Oman,” Mr. Goyal said. Oman’s businesses, too, are very excited about collaborating with Indian businesses, he said.

“Already, we have received interest from an Omani dairy to have a joint venture with Amul,” Mr. Goyal said, adding that he has invited Omani firms and the Sovereign Wealth Fund to invest in India.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will undertake a four-day visit to Jordan, Ethiopia and Oman beginning on Monday (December 15, 2025) to shore up bilateral ties, especially in areas of trade and defence.

In the first leg of his trip, Mr. Modi will visit Jordan from December 15 to 16 at the invitation of King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein to review the entire gamut of bilateral relations and exchange perspectives on regional issues.

This visit presents an opportunity to further strengthen India-Jordan engagement, explore new avenues of collaboration for growth and prosperity, and reiterate New Delhi’s commitment to promote regional peace, security and stability, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said.

From Jordan, Mr. Modi will travel to Ethiopia for a two-day visit from December 16 to 17. It will be his first visit to the East African country.

In Addis Ababa, Mr. Modi will hold wide-ranging talks with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali on all aspects of bilateral ties.

“As partners in the Global South, the visit will be a reiteration of the shared commitment of the two nations to advance close ties of friendship and bilateral cooperation,” the MEA said.

In the third and final leg of his visit, Mr. Modi will visit Oman from December 17 to 18 at the invitation of Sultan Haitham bin Tarik.

It will be Mr. Modi’s second visit to Oman. The two sides are expected to seal a free trade agreement during the Prime Minister’s visit to the Gulf nation.

“India and Oman share an all-encompassing strategic partnership underpinned by centuries-old bonds of friendship, trade linkages and strong people-to-people ties,” the MEA said.

Mr. Modi’s visit to Oman will mark 70 years of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, and follows the state visit of Sultan Tarik to India in December 2023.

“This visit will be an opportunity for both sides to comprehensively review the bilateral partnership, including in the areas of trade, investment, energy, defence, security, technology, agriculture and culture as well as exchange views on regional and global issues of mutual interest,” the MEA said in a statement.