Trade Oman-China trade value hits $15bn By Inga Stevens August 9, 2024, 6:45 AM Alamy via Reuters Qais bin Mohammed bin Moosa Al Yousef, the minister of commerce and industry for Oman Bilateral trade between Oman and China increased by 8 percent year on year in the first five months of 2024, reaching more than $15 billion, according to local media. Officials said during an Omani-Chinese friendship forum in the southern city of Salalah that the major joint projects with China currently being implemented in Oman are in the areas of energy, mining, electricity generation, information technology and communications. Chinese investment in Oman stood at over $6.6 billion, with 76 percent in the energy and petrochemicals sector, according to data reported by Al Roya newspaper. Oman-China trade Last year, state-owned China Telecom Global (CTG) signed a strategic subsea capacity and connectivity deal with Zain Omantel International (ZOI), a joint venture formed in May by Kuwait’s Zain Group and Oman’s Omantel Chinese company Drinda will establish its first overseas solar photovoltaic facility in Oman, investing $700 million in a 10-gigawatt (GW) photovoltaic cell manufacturing plant Solar manufacturer Q-Sun has formed a partnership with Omani company Bakarat Investment to build a 10GW solar module factory in the sultanate investing around $200 million Oman LNG signed an agreement with China’s Unipec to supply one million tonnes of LNG annually starting in 2025. The four-year contract is the first LNG term deal with a Chinese company The State Grid Corporation of China has contributed to upgrading Oman’s electricity transmission network with a project valued at $169 million, which was completed in 2023 Oman Air’s CEO, Con Korfiatis, wants to target China as a strategic market, saying China is a “huge tourist market with completely unexploited potential” Oman and China have a mutual visa exemption agreement. The deal was reached in 2021 as part of efforts to enhance bilateral relations and boost tourism and investment
