OREANDA-NEWS. October 07, 2009. President of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov visited the Sultanate of Oman with a state visit.

At the talks of the President Islam Karimov and the Sultan of Oman Qaboos bin Said, the sides considered issues of development of bilateral cooperation and expansion of trade and economic relations.

Islam Karimov said that Uzbekistan highly valued cooperation with Oman. Qaboos bin Said, in turn, said the visit of the head of Uzbekistan was a historical event in the bilateral relations.

The relations between the two states have been steadily developing on the basis of the principles of friendship and mutual trust. The foreign ministries of Uzbekistan and Oman hold regular consultations.

The countries have common views on the issues of fighting terrorism, extremism, arms and drugs smuggling, etc. Oman highly values the efforts of Uzbekistan in strengthening security and stability in Central Asia and normalizing the situation in Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan and Oman actively cooperation in the framework of the international organizations, including the UN and the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Both countries have a huge potential in the field of oil and gas and a lot of experience in development of agriculture. The sides are interested in implementing joint projects in oil and gas, metallurgy, construction, machinery, textile and other areas.

The trade and economic cooperation has also been developing between Uzbekistan and Oman. In 2007, the Cabinet of Uzbekistan approved the plan of actions to expand bilateral cooperation.

Last December, the delegation of Uzbekistan visited Oman and held talks in ministries and departments responsible for the fields of economy, trade, industry, labor, transport, communications and tourism, as well as at the Central Bank.

A business forum was also held during that visit with participation of more than 30 companies and several banks of Oman. A number of agreements were signed.

In March 2009, the Oman delegation paid a visit to Uzbekistan to discuss issues of trade and investment cooperation and sign a number of agreements, including intergovernmental ones.

Thus, the two countries signed the agreement on mutual stimulation and protection of investments, and on avoiding double taxation for capital. They also inked a memorandum on creating the Uzbek-Oman investment fund.

During the state visit of the President of Uzbekistan to Oman, the sides reached an agreement on opening the embassies of the two countries in Tashkent and Muscat.

The talks also resulted in signing intergovernmental agreements on the bases of cooperation and relations between the two countries, on trade and economic cooperation, on air communication, as well as over 10 documents in the oil and gas, chemical, construction, tourism, investment and higher education sectors.

At the business forum that took place during the visit in Muscat, the two countries’ entrepreneurs discussed development of bilateral ties and expansion of investment cooperation.

The President of Uzbekistan visited the Sultan Qaboos Mosque and the Armed Forces Museum of Oman.