By IANS,
Dubai : India was the second biggest receiver of non-oil exports from Oman in 2008, new figures have revealed.
India imported 182 million Omani riyals (around $472.7 million) worth of non-oil commodities from that Gulf nation in the first eight months of 2008, according to statistics released by Oman’s Ministry of National Economy.
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) topped the list having imported 431.7 million Omani riyals (around $1.1 billion) worth of commodities during the same period.
Saudi Arabia was third with 115.6 million Omani riyals (around $300.2 million) worth of imports.
Trade and commercial ties between India and Oman had received a tremendous boost during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to Oman in November last year.
During the course of the visit, India and Oman signed two major memorandums of understanding (MoUs) – one on boosting bilateral investment and another in the field of manpower.
India’s State Bank of India and the State General Reserve Fund of the Sultanate of Oman signed the first MoU to set up an India-Oman Joint Investment Fund.
The new fund is being set up with an initial seed capital of $100 million, which will be expandable to $1.5 billion.
The fund will identify projects in infrastructure, health, tourism utility and urban infrastructure in both countries and will also set up special purpose vehicles for this.
Another MoU on manpower was signed primarily to check illegal recruitment and human trafficking.
According to the new figures of the Ministry of National Economy, Oman’s foreign trade saw a rise of 59.7 percent in the first eight months of 2008 compared to the same period the previous year.
This was due to a rise of 56.7 percent in oil and gas exports and 76.5 percent in non-oil exports.
Re-export of goods from Oman also rose by 61 percent in the same period.