Muscat : Oman and India's bilateral trade has reached a new high of $4.5 billion (Dh16.60 billion) with the Sultanate's investment in India estimated to be around $3 billion, according to Indian ambassador to Oman Anil Wadhwa.
Speaking at a Business Meet at the Muscat InterContinental Hotel, the Indian ambassador hailed the growing commercial relations between the two countries.
He lauded the efforts made by the business communities of the two countries to strengthen business and investment activities.
There are around 1,527 Omani-Indian joint ventures between the two countries with a total investment of $7.53 billion in which Indian participation is estimated at around $4.52 billion. "Oman and India bilateral trade from April 2009 to March 2010 stood at $4.5 billion," he added.
He hoped that the Omani business groups would like to venture into various investment opportunities available in India.
"There is vast potential for cooperation in energy, IT, remote sensing, agricultural field mapping and fisheries," Wadhwa pointed out.
A trade delegation from Gujarat, which is in Muscat to promote the fifth Vibrant Gujarat summit 2011, held an interactive session with their Omani counterparts.
The four previous global summits held in India's western state of Gujarat have been a resounding success, attracting investment agreements worth more than $ 400 billion.
"The conversion rate of agreement is pretty healthy at over 55 per cent," the head of the delegation, Tapan Ray, who is also managing director of Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC), said in reply to a question.
He hopes that the rate of translating promises into reality would be much higher after the fifth edition of the Global Summit, to be held on January 12 and 13 in Gandhinagar.
Jamal T Aziz , Chief Executive Officer of Freezone Sohar, who was also present during the presentation felt that strong synergies between Freezone Sohar and Gujarat that could be exploited for either country's economic benefit.
