Oman and Iran signed memorandums of understanding and cooperation programs covering the energy and transport sectors on Monday during Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi’s visit to Muscat during his second Arab stop since taking office last year. The Oman News Agency reported that the number of MoUs reached eight and four cooperation programs that are in several areas including oil and gas, transport, diplomatic research, trade and investment. The parties are expected to re-discuss the agreement on the construction of a pipeline to supply gas from the Islamic Republic to the Sultanate, concluded some two decades ago. The two countries signed several memorandums of understanding on the matter, but the project never saw the light of day.
This one-day visit is Raisi’s second after visiting Qatar in February, where he met with Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad and attended a conference of gas exporting countries. Sultan of Oman Haytham bin Tariq was received by the President of Iran upon his arrival at the capital’s private airport, and an official reception ceremony was held for him at the royal palace during which twenty-one artillery salutes were fired, according to an official statement from Oman.
The parties held a session of formal talks that reviewed “aspects of the existing bilateral cooperation between the two countries in various fields, as well as ways to maintain and strengthen strong friendship relations,” state-run Oman News reported. Agency. Before leaving Tehran, Raisi said, as quoted by the official IRNA news agency, that “trade relations between Iran and the Sultanate of Oman will certainly improve in various areas, including transport, energy and tourism, especially health tourism”, adding that “in the course of Memorandums of Understanding will be signed between the two countries during this visit. He noted that the visit is part of the government’s policy of strengthening relations with neighboring countries, which, as Raisi has repeatedly stressed, is a priority of his government’s foreign policy. Trade between the two countries reached $1.336 billion during the latest Iranian fiscal year, which ended in March, according to an Iranian news agency.
