General

Although China and Oman are separated by mountains and seas, the friendly exchanges between the two peoples have lasted for thousands of years. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1978, the two countries have always respected, trusted and supported each other. Their friendly and cooperative relations in various fields have made great progress and have become a model of win-win cooperation between countries. Since the two countries established a strategic partnership and signed the "the Belt and Road" cooperation document in 2018, the two sides have made new progress in international trade fields such as trade, investment, infrastructure construction and human resources cooperation.

First, bilateral international trade grew against the trend and trade partnership continued to strengthen. Since 2020, even under the influence of the COVID-19, China Arab bilateral international trade has still achieved strong growth. In 2021, the volume of bilateral international trade between China and Argentina will reach 32.1 billion US dollars, with a year-on-year growth of 71.5%. From January to September 2022, the bilateral trade volume exceeded US $30.6 billion, with a year-on-year growth of 33.1%. China continues to maintain Oman's status as the largest trading partner and the largest crude oil export destination, while Oman is China's fourth largest international trading partner in the Arab world.

Second, we will work together to focus on key areas and create a win-win model. In recent years, Chinese enterprises have carried out close cooperation with Afghanistan in energy, power, communications and other fields, with remarkable results. PetroChina and local enterprises jointly established Dali Petroleum Company. The Oman 5 Block Oilfield Project has become the third largest oil producing block in Oman, and Chinese oil and gas engineering services and equipment suppliers have also become an important supporting force in Oman's oil and gas field. In 2020, State Grid will participate in 49% of the shares of Oman State Grid Corporation, deeply participate in the management and operation of Oman State Grid, and assist Oman Power Grid to continuously improve the reliability and operation efficiency of the grid. In the telecommunications field, Huawei has become a major equipment supplier in Oman's telecommunications industry after years of efforts, and its share in Oman's telecommunications market has ranked first. Huawei, Hutchison Suhar Port and Oman Telecom have carried out tripartite cooperation on the use of 5G technology to manage and operate Suhar Port. The project will be put into pre commercial use in October 2021, and the first 5G smart port in the Middle East will be built. The 607MW Yibaili New Energy Project undertaken by PowerChina East China Design Institute has entered commercial operation in 2022, becoming the first large-scale photovoltaic power station in Oman.

Third, we steadily promoted practical cooperation, and human resources cooperation showed new highlights. Since 2018, China has actively carried out human resources training cooperation with Afghanistan. As of October 2022, the Chinese side has invited Oman to participate in and organized 140 multi bilateral trainings for it, with more than 850 participants from Oman, covering many fields such as science and technology, economy and trade, education, health, leadership improvement, industrial park development and management. In addition, the Chinese government provides Oman with higher education study scholarships. From 2018 to 2022, 45 people will be enrolled, including Peking University, University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai Jiaotong University, Nankai University, Central South University, etc.

Fourth, actively carry out anti epidemic cooperation to help Afghanistan win the health protection war. Since the COVID-19 in 2020, China and Argentina have actively carried out anti epidemic cooperation. China has provided many batches of epidemic prevention materials to Oman, and provided 100,000 vaccines in 2021. BGI has carried out technical cooperation with Oman to establish a "Fire Eye" laboratory at Muscat Airport, the capital of Oman, to provide high-quality nucleic acid testing and personnel training. By the end of October 2022, 820000 person times of nucleic acid testing for entry-exit personnel in Oman Airport had been completed, making positive contributions to Oman's foreign defense import and ensuring the orderly resumption of international aviation.

Looking forward to the future, the "the Belt and Road" initiative proposed by China is highly consistent with Oman's 2040 vision, and the two countries have strong economic complementarity and broad prospects for cooperation. Oman's key areas of promoting economic diversification, such as petrochemical, manufacturing, mining, new energy and fishery, will provide new opportunities for bilateral cooperation.