On Monday, Deputy NSA Vikram Misri met with his counterparts at the ninth India-Oman strategic dialogue upholding their strategic partnership. The two sides spoke about current regional conflicts taking place in West Asia.
In the meeting, the members discussed the Gaza war, and how the Houthi militants have been targeting commercial cargo at the Red Sea, a majorconcern for world trade.
India and Oman have had a successful bilateral relationships in the past, including the latter participating in the G20 summit followed by a visit to India by Sultan Haitham bin Tarik.
The two sides acknowledge the contribution of its people-to-people engagement on various issues such as economy and trade. The current discussion focussed on strategic, military, security and artificial intelligence. India has helped maintain Oman’s ports, while the latter has provided a specific zone to India at the ‘Port of Duqm’ enhancing India’s maritime capability in the region.
In February, Defence Secretary Giridhar Aramane met with officials from Oman and signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) at the India-Oman Joint Military Cooperation Committee (JMCC) meet in Muscat. The aim was to strengthen their ties on defence procurement deals and collaboration in the defence industrial sector.
India is actively exploring strategic agreements for exporting defence equipment to Oman, as it is the oldest strategic partner for India in the Gulf region. India needs to maintain its relationship with Oman as it provides a key strategic access to Eastern and Southern Africa.
The events taking place in the Red Sea and Gulf region are of great importance to India. Thus, maintaining bilateral relations within the region has been a priority for the country.
The next round of India-Oman strategic dialogue will be held in New Delhi.
Nitish Chavan
