Oman-India Business Forum Explores CEPA Opportunities to Boost Trade and Investment

Oman-India Forum Highlights CEPA as Gateway to Trade and Investment Growth

Oman-India CEPA Opens New Horizons for Private Sector, Business Partnerships

Muscat (ONA): The Oman-India Business Forum, organized today in Muscat by Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OCCI), discussed opportunities to benefit from the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) between the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of India, in a manner that contributes to supporting economic diversification plans, enhancing trade exchange, elevating the competitiveness of Omani companies, and opening new horizons for the Omani private sector.

Faisal Abdullah Al Rowas, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry, stated that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement represents a fundamental base for elevating Omani-Indian relations to broader levels of cooperation and partnership, and enhancing trade and investment movement between the two countries.

He explained that the agreement provides the private sector in both countries with major opportunities to increase exports, access new markets, and build investment partnerships in a number of promising sectors, benefiting from the preferential advantages offered by the agreement, as well as from the Sultanate of Oman’s strategic location, logistical infrastructure, and special economic and free zones.

He pointed out that this forum aimed to reflect the advantages of the agreement into practical opportunities through discussions and dialogues between business owners and investors from both countries regarding the mechanisms of activating the agreement and exploring partnership opportunities in promising economic sectors.

Al Rowas called on Omani business owners to learn about the agreement’s benefits, study markets and products with export opportunities, communicate directly with their counterparts in the Republic of India, explore partnership and investment opportunities, and build joint projects, emphasizing that the coming phase requires transforming the advantages provided by the agreement into tangible deals, partnerships, and investments.

For his part, Eng. Said Ali Al Abri, Member of the Board of Directors of OCCI and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Chamber’s Branch in North Al Batinah Governorate, said that the institutional framework through which Omani-Indian economic relations are organized today is represented by the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of India, which was signed in Muscat in December 2025 and entered into force on 1 June 2026.

He stressed that the agreement represents an important milestone for the Sultanate of Oman as its first bilateral trade agreement.

He added that the agreement provides significant trade advantages, including opening about 98 percent of Omani tariff lines to Indian goods, in exchange for India’s commitment to reducing or eliminating customs duties on about 77 percent of its tariff lines, in addition to covering investment fields, facilitating customs procedures, digital trade, intellectual property, and the movement of professionals, thereby enhancing an environment conducive to the growth of trade and investment between the two countries.

He affirmed that this forum serves as an important platform for translating the agreement into practical opportunities, bringing together business owners, investors, and concerned institutions from both countries to discuss implementation mechanisms, actual benefit from the agreement, services and joint project opportunities, and the Sultanate of Oman’s role as an investment gateway to regional and international markets.

From his side, Prashant Pise, Ambassador-designate of the Republic of India to the Sultanate of Oman, stated that the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries represents a new phase in Omani-Indian economic and trade relations, providing a broad framework for enhancing trade and investment and opening new horizons for the private sector in both countries.

He pointed out that the agreement is not limited to increasing trade exchange volume, but also creates broader opportunities to build long-term investment and productive partnerships across multiple sectors, emphasizing the importance of this forum in enhancing communication between business owners and investors from the two countries, introducing them to the opportunities provided by the agreement, and transforming them into tangible projects and partnerships.

The Ambassador-designate invited Omani and Indian companies to take advantage of the preferential benefits provided by the agreement and explore opportunities for cooperation in vital economic sectors, thereby enhancing integration between the economies of the two countries and supporting the growth of mutual trade and investments.

Dr. Yousuf Hamad Al Balushi, Founder of Smart Investment Gateway, delivered the keynote address at the forum on the Omani side, titled “The Sultanate of Oman as an Investment Destination for Indian Companies”, during which he reviewed practical opportunities to maximize the Sultanate of Oman’s benefit from the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement with India, emphasizing the importance of transforming it from a trade agreement into an integrated platform for investment, production, and export, contributing to attracting qualitative Indian investments, Raising value addition, and strengthening Omani companies’ connection to global value chains.

Meanwhile, Dr. James J. Nedumpara, Head of the Center for Trade and Investment Law, delivered the keynote address at the forum from the Indian side, titled “Unlocking the Potential of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of India”, reviewing the Indian perspective on the agreement, explaining that it aims to establish a free trade area, with a tangible expansion in the scope of duty-free goods compared to treatment based on Most-Favored-Nation (MFN) status.

The forum featured two panel discussions: the first discussed the phases from agreement to implementation and achieving the opportunities of the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement, while the second panel discussion focused on key services, investment, and joint projects based on long-term partnerships.

An accompanying exhibition was held on the sideslines of the forum, displaying a number of products and services reflecting the diversity of economic cooperation fields between the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of India.

The forum included a number of bilateral meetings between business owners and representatives of companies and institutions from the two countries, aiming to discuss cooperation and partnership opportunities, explore fields for joint investment, as well as discuss the possibility of establishing new projects and expanding existing business operations.

These meetings focused on the investment opportunities and advantages available in the Sultanate of Oman and the Republic of India, and discussed ways to benefit from the advantages provided by the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement between the two countries, contributing to enhancing trade and investment movement and opening new channels for the private sector, particularly in priority economic sectors.

At the conclusion of its proceedings, the forum called on Omani companies to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the agreement to strengthen their presence in Indian markets, expand their exports, and build new commercial and investment partnerships.