ISDS Case Map
Oman
The US and Oman said on Monday they had concluded talks on a free trade agreement, the fifth deal completed in the Middle East by the US as part of an effort to build a web of economic ties in the region over the next decade.
The United States and Oman have reached a free trade agreement (FTA) to eliminate tariffs and barriers and expand trade between both countries, US Trade Representative Rob Portman and Omani Minister of Commerce and Industry Maqbool Bin Ali Sultan announced Monday.
The second round of the proposed free-trade agreement (FTA) negotiations between the Sultanate and US will commence in Washington on Monday and continue for several days.
With free trade agreements, come political leverage. Realising this, the United States is moving fast to sign bilateral FTAs with Gulf countries - in the hope that Washington would be able to fill a vacuum because of the slowness of these Arab states in starting any regional trading mechanisms of their own.
Building on a spree of free-trade deals across the region, Oman is in the process of signing a free-trade agreement with the United States by the end of 2005 or early 2006.
The Sultanate of Oman has expressed hope that the proposed free trade agreement (FTA) with the USA, for which negotiations are to start on Saturday, would be concluded before the end of this year to give a new edge to Oman's liberal economy in an era of globlisation.
Oman will sign a free trade agreement with the US in July, its Trade and Industry Minister Maqbool bin Ali said yesterday.
Maqbool bin Ali Sultan, minister of commerce and industry, yesterday cited two reasons for the Sultanate's decision to begin negotiations for a free-trade agreement with the US. He was addressing Omani businessmen, private sector officials and representatives of the companies operating in the Sultanate during a meeting at the Oman Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
From November 4-13, 2004, a bipartisan delegation of Members of the Committee on Ways and Means of the US House of Representatives traveled to Tunisia, Jordan, Oman, and Egypt regarding trade, investment, and security issues in the region.
The United Arab Emirates and Oman must make new efforts to qualify for proposed free trade pacts with the United States, a US official said on Friday in response to objections raised by labour groups.
