External Affairs Minister S. Jaishankar on December 15 met Oman Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik. Mr. Jaishankar said that he values his guidance for further deepening of strategic partnership between India and Oman. In a post shared on X, Mr. Jaishankar stated, "Honoured to call on His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik of Oman as he begins his State visit. Value his guidance for further deepening of our Strategic Partnership."
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On Dec. 15, early in the day, Oman Sultan Mr. Tarik landed at the Delhi airport for his three-day State visit to India. Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs V. Muraleedharan welcomed him at the airport.
Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said that the visit of Oman Sultan will further reinforce the friendship and cooperation between the two nations. "His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik of Oman arrives to a warm welcome in New Delhi on his first State Visit to India. Received by @MOS_MEA at the airport. The visit will further reinforce the longstanding friendship and cooperation between India & Oman and strengthen bilateral ties," Mr. Bagchi posted on X.
According to MEA, this is the first State visit of Oman's Sultan Mr. Tarik to India and marks a significant milestone in the diplomatic relations between India and Oman.
Oman Sultan arrived in India at the invitation of President Droupadi Murmu. During his visit, he will be received by PM Modi and President Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan for a ceremonial welcome on Dec. 16. He will also visit the National Gallery of Modern Art here and hold a meeting with PM Modi at Hyderabad House on day two of his visit. During his visit, PM Modi will also host a luncheon in his honour.
“The visit will be an opportunity to explore avenues for future collaboration between India and Oman for regional stability, progress, and prosperity,” the MEA release said.
Notably, India and Oman share a long-standing friendship rooted in historical, cultural, and economic ties. Furthermore, people-to-people contact between India and Oman can be traced back 5,000 years. The diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1955, and the relationship was upgraded to a strategic partnership in 2008.
Oman is India's closest defence partner in the Gulf region as well, and defence cooperation has emerged as a key pillar of the strategic partnership between India and Oman, according to MEA.
Oman is the only country in West Asia with which all three services of the Indian Armed Forces conduct regular bilateral exercises and service-level staff talks. Given the strong relationship with Oman, India also extended a special invitation to the Sultanate of Oman to participate in the G20 Summit and meetings as a guest country under India's G20 Presidency. Oman actively participated in over 150 working group meetings, and nine Ministers from Oman participated in various G20 Ministerial meetings.
