India, Oman to sign Free Trade Agreement on December 18, Piyush Goyal confirms

admin — Wed, 17 Dec 2025 11:40:00 +0000

Union Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal. File.
| Photo Credit: PTI

Confirming that India and Oman will be signing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on Thursday (December 18, 2025), Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal said that the FTA offers “immense opportunities” in a number of sectors, including textiles, footwear, automobiles, gems and jewellery, renewable energy, and auto components.

Speaking at the India-Oman Business Forum in Muscat, Mr. Goyal added that India stands to gain in terms of the access Oman provides to other markets such as the GCC region, eastern Europe, central Asia, and Africa.

India and Oman launched negotiations on a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) in November 2023. During his speech, Mr. Goyal said he and his counterpart in Oman would sign the Agreement in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sultan Haitham bin Tarik.

The Hindu had on December 17 reported that Mr. Modi and Mr. Goyal would be traveling to Oman this week to sign the FTA.

“This free trade agreement offers immense opportunities in terms of several sectors including textiles, footwear, automobiles, gems and jewellery, renewable energy, and auto components,” Mr. Goyal said. “The sky is the limit in terms of potential, particularly with Oman opening the doors as a gateway to the Gulf Cooperation Council region, eastern Europe, central Asia, and to Africa.”

He added that there are four broad areas in which the two countries can collaborate with each other.

“One is in the energy transition that both are committed to, whether it’s renewable sources of energy, battery storage, green hydrogen, that whole ecosystem can open up between Oman and India and together for the rest of the world,” Mr Goyal said.

The second area, he said, was in infrastructure, multimodal logistics, and export warehouses.

“Another area would be food security,” Mr. Goyal said. “We can help Oman ensure food security, whether we can work together to make this a hub from where we work for the rest of the several reaches that I just described, food parks, there is a lot of potential in this area.”

The fourth area, the Commerce Minister said in which India and Oman could work together was to develop their startup ecosystems.

“The startups can engage with each other, build bridges, work on deep tech or smarter ways to work on logistics software services, artificial intelligence, there is tremendous potential to leverage this area as a hub,” Mr Goyal said.

Published – December 17, 2025 05:10 pm IST

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India set to sign trade deal with Oman to expand its Middle East ties

admin — Sat, 27 Apr 2024 07:18:36 +0000

Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Sultan of Oman Haitham Bin Tarik hold bilateral talks at Hyderabad House in New Delhi.
| Photo Credit: ANI

India and Oman will sign a trade deal in the coming months, two Indian government officials said, as New Delhi seeks to expand its ties in the Middle East, where rising tensions are putting major shipping routes at risk.

“It will help India with a strategic partner and access to key trade routes in a volatile region,” one official told Reuters.

India and Oman have annual trade of less than $13 billion, but the relationship is important for New Delhi as the Gulf nation is a gateway to the narrow Strait of Hormuz between Oman and Iran, a major transit point for global oil shipments.

Also Read | India, Oman in talks for comprehensive economic partnership agreement

Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza has spread to hostilities with Iran, and Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi militants have launched repeated drone and missile strikes in the Red Sea area, claiming solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza.

The trade deal requires the approval of the government that wins India’s ongoing national elections, whose results are to be announced on June 4, the officials said. Prime Minister Narendra Modi is widely expected to win a rare third term.

The officials asked not to be named as the discussions are private.

Also Read | India, Oman to cooperate in the field of archives

India’s trade and Foreign Ministries and Oman’s embassy in India and Foreign Ministry did not respond to emails seeking comment.

Making little progress on a deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), India has pivoted to seeking bilateral deals with GCC member nations such as Oman and United Arab Emirates.

The planned deal with Oman “also gives a competitive edge as GCC is negotiating trade agreements with Pakistan and China,” the official said.

Also Read | A time-honoured connect that will help bridge the Gulf

Oman has agreed to eliminate duties on Indian exports worth an annual $3 billion including agricultural products, gems and jewellery, leather, automobiles, medical devices, engineering products and textiles, the officials said

India has agreed to reduce duties on some petrochemicals, aluminium and copper from Oman, while capping imports of such goods, the officials said.

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India, Oman to sign Free Trade Agreement on December 18, Piyush Goyal confirms

India set to sign trade deal with Oman to expand its Middle East ties