MUSCAT: Iranian President Hassan Rowhani is expected in Muscat for a two-day visit starting tomorrow during which he will discuss with Oman’s leader bilateral cooperation and regional tensions, Tehran’s envoy announced.
Tehran enjoys good relations with Muscat but is locked in a decades-long rivalry with Saudi Arabia while other Gulf states are wary of the ambitions of their neighbour across the water.
In his first visit to a Gulf state since his election last year, Rowhani will discuss “means of strengthening bilateral relations” as well as “security and stability” in the region, Tehran’s ambassador in Muscat, Ali Akbar Sibeveih, said yesterday.
He will also discuss the “Syrian crisis and ways of peacefully resolving it”, he added.
H M Sultan Qaboos bin Said of Oman, who maintains historically good relations with Tehran, visited Iran in August for a visit focused on economic and diplomatic issues. Qaboos has acted as an intermediary between Western countries and the Islamic republic.
The sultanate is reported to have hosted secret talks between Iran and the United States ahead of the signing in Geneva last November of an accord between world powers and Iran on its nuclear programme. Rowhani is the second Iranian leader to visit Oman since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. His hardline predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visited the sultanate in 2007.
On the economic front, Oman and Iran are seeking to expand trade, which reached $1bn last year, as well as bilateral investments which they expect will top $10bn by the end of this year.
Iran is planning to invest $4bn in Oman’s Duqm port on the Arabian Sea, in projects that include the establishment of 100 large oil and gas tanks and an iron-smelting plant, among other projects. It will invest a further $2bn in two other ports — Sohar and Salalah.
Meanwhile, Oman will invest in petrochemical, education, and oil exploitation projects in Iran worth $4bn. In 2009, Oman and Iran signed an agreement for the construction of a 200km undersea gas pipeline linking the two countries. The project will be finalised within two years, the ambassador said. Oman and Iran are also discussing building a causeway link over the Strait of Hormuz, Sibeveih said, without giving details. AFP
