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Germany and Oman: Bilateral relations

13.01.2023 - Article

German-Omani relations have traditionally been close and friendly. There are regular bilateral consultations focusing on both politics and economics. Germany is held in high regard due to the mediating political role it has played in the region.

Since the 1960s, German companies in Oman have helped to successfully build a robust infrastructure in the Sultanate through direct investment and direct holdings. Germany is one of Oman’s key economic partners in the non-oil sector. German exports to Oman regularly chalk up figures in the high hundred millions. There is future-oriented cooperation in the environmental and renewable energy sectors.

A bilateral investment promotion and protection agreement entered into force on 4 April 2010. The German-Omani double taxation agreement, which was signed on 15 August 2012 in Muscat, has been ratified by Oman. Negotiations on a security agreement are now in the closing stages.

A large number of Omanis travel to Germany for medical treatment, while Germans currently make up the largest group of tourists from Europe.

Bilateral relations in the cultural and education sectors focus on cooperation in science and technology, in particular in the university sphere, where many cooperation schemes are in place. In 2014, Germany and Oman signed a declaration of intent on cooperation on culture, education, science and research. Since 2007, there has been a private Omani university, German University of Technology (GUtech), in Oman whose curriculum follows that of the German partner RWTH Aachen University. In cooperation with the Omani Education Ministry, the Goethe-Institut offers German lessons in a German Language Centre in Muscat and engages in cultural work from its regional base in Abu Dhabi. The German-Omani Association, which was founded in 1992, seeks to develop friendly relations between the two countries and promote cooperation in culture, business, science, academia and sports. On the Omani side, the Omani-German-Friendship Association is active primarily in the business sector.

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