Oman readies to welcome Manmohan, trade and energy top agenda

The Indian government is leaving no stone unturned to make Manmohan Singh’s three-day trip to Oman and Qatar a success.

Petroleum
Minister Murli Deora, Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi
and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs E. Ahamed will be
accompanying Manmohan Singh.

National Security Adviser M.K.
Narayanan and Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh
Ahluwalia, who enjoy cabinet minister status, will also be part of the
entourage.

Manmohan Singh will hold talks with Oman’s ruler
Sultan Qaboos Bin Al Said on a wide range of bilateral, regional and
global issues, including energy security, economic ties and the
international financial crisis.

His visit to Oman and Qatar
comes at a crucial time when the world is looking at the cash-rich Gulf
afresh in the wake of the global financial crisis and India is planning
to give more economic and strategic weight to its ties with the Gulf
region.

According to India’s Ambassador to Oman Anil Wadhwa, India and Oman will sign three key pacts during the course of the visit.

“There is the memorandum of understanding (MoU) for creating the India-Oman Fund,” Wadhwa told IANS.

“The
fund is intended to create seed capital, identification of
infrastructure projects in India and Oman and creating special purpose
vehicles,” he said.

The second is a manpower agreement between Oman’s ministry of manpower and India’s ministry of overseas Indian affairs.

Oman is home to around 500,000 Indians.

A third agreement will be signed between the foreign service training institutes of the two countries.

Apart
from this, a number of other issues will come up for discussion when
Manmohan Singh meets Oman’s ruler Sultan Qaboos Bin Al Said.

“This will include the regional situation, the global financial crisis and bilateral economic ties,” Wadhwa said.

Bilateral trade between the two countries is expected to cross the $1 billion mark by the end of this year.

The proposed India-GCC free trade agreement is also expected to come up for discussion during the course of the discussions.

“This will include the regional situation, the global financial crisis and bilateral economic ties,” Wadhwa said.

The
visit to Qatar – home to around 420,000 expatriate Indians – aims at
bolstering energy ties between the two countries. India has one of the
oldest labour welfare pacts with Qatar dating back to 1975, an
additional protocol to which was signed last year. Nine years ago,
India signed an agreement for exporting 7.5 million tonnes of liquefied
gas from Qatar annually in two phases.

Labour welfare, bilateral
economic ties and maritime security will be among the major issues that
will come up for discussion and pacts will be signed in this
connection. In the wake of the global financial crisis, the Gulf has
emerged as a key player in the world economic order.

Leaders of western counties have been visiting the region over the last couple of weeks seeking help to tide over the crisis.