UK to invest More than £23m in Port of Duqm: Oman

Muscat: British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace announced an additional £23.8 million investment in the UK logistics hub at Duqm port, following his recent visit to the Oman and Qatar to discuss shared security challenges and future collaboration.

According to the UK Ministry of Defense website in a statement that the investment in the port of Duqm will triple the size of the existing UK base and will help facilitate Royal Navy deployments to the Indian Ocean, and the UK base has a dry dock facility. It could support the two UK’s aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.

The UK Ministry of Defense also stated that the port of Duqm was used in 2018 for the Exercise Saif Sareea 3 and the expansion will further support the training of the British army in the Sultanate.

The Defense Secretary Ben Wallace stated: Long-standing friendships between the United Kingdom and the Gulf states are more important than ever, with shared defense and security interests, it is vital we work together for both to achieve regional and global stability.

He added: The United Kingdom and several Gulf states work closely together in the field of counter-terrorism, sharing information and resources to tackle violent extremism, as Oman and Qatar are all members of the Global Coalition against Daesh alongside the United Kingdom, as they work together to combat the violent ideology and the network of terrorist fighters.

The British Defense Minister Ben Wallace visited the Sultanate last Tuesday, and the accompanying delegation on an official visit that lasted for several days.

source: gov.uk