India Oman FTA: Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal said on Friday that India and Oman will try to implement the free trade agreement within the next three months. A free trade agreement was signed between the two countries on 18 December.
Under the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), Oman has offered zero duty on more than 98 of its duty categories or product categories. With this, 99.38 percent of India’s exports will be provided duty free access to Oman.
These products will benefit
All major labour-intensive sectors including gems and jewellery, textiles, leather, footwear, sporting goods, plastics, furniture, agricultural products, engineering products, pharmaceuticals, medical devices and motor vehicles have been completely duty free. Currently, import duty on these goods in Oman ranges from five to 100 percent. India, on the other hand, is offering duty liberalization on 77.79 percent of its total duty categories (12,556).
This accounts for 94.81 percent of India’s imports from Oman in terms of value. Oman last signed a trade agreement with America. The Oman–US trade agreement was finalized in 2006, although it came into force in January 2009.
Commerce Minister’s statement
Goyal told reporters here, “Oman’s minister and I have discussed that we will try to implement this agreement within three months.” When asked about possible areas for Indian businesses to invest in Oman, he said that there is a lot of potential in sectors like steel, energy, education and healthcare. The minister said, “Indian companies would like to invest in projects that require natural resources.”
New employment opportunities will open
Huge investment is being made in the steel sector for green steel production. He said that Oman is very excited to cooperate because India has huge land reserves. Goyal said that investment opportunities can be explored in the energy sector.
The energy can be converted into green hydrogen or green ammonia and exported to the rest of the world. This will provide export opportunities to Indians and create employment opportunities for Indian people.
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