Individual State Level

The UK

Oman 's strongest trade and political ally in the EU is the UK . British companies have been heavily involved in projects for the construction of the country's infrastructure before and after the rise of Sultan Qaboos in 1970. Furthermore the British Army have also been training and assisting the Omani Armed forces since then. In fact the British Army was instrumental in quelling the Dhofar conflict in southern Oman in the early 1970s. Yearly military exercises between the two countries continue till today. Britain is home to a large number of Omani students. Meanwhile British companies such as the British Airports Authority have been involved in Oman 's privatisation scheme.

EU entity level

Oman's relations with the EU comes under the EU's relations with the GCC countries which include Oman, Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates.

According to the EU in 1989 the EC and the GCC concluded a Cooperation Agreement under which the EU and GCC Foreign ministers meet once a year at a Joint Council/Ministerial Meeting. The objective of this agreement is to facilitate trade relations, as well as more generally to contribute to strengthening stability in a strategic part of the world. Working groups have been established in the fields of industrial cooperation, energy and environment. In 1996, decentralised cooperation (university cooperation, business cooperation and media cooperation) was added to the agenda.

The 1989 Cooperation Agreement also contains a commitment from both sides to enter into negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement between the EC and the GCC. The negotiating mandate from the Council of the European Union adopted in 2001, states as condition for signature of such an agreement the constitution of a GCC Customs Union. Since then the Omani government alongside other GCC countries have established the GCC customs Union thus paving the way for negotiations with the EU for the establishment of a GCC bloc FTA with the EU. Discussions are currently taking place with the EU regarding the areas to be covered by the agreement.

The GCC remains the EU's sixth largest export market. Furthermore the EU consistently has an export surplus in the trade balance with the GCC. In 2000, the EU exports revenue from the GCC amounted to 29 billion euro whereas imports amounted to 22 billion euro . Crude oil represents almost two thirds of EU imports from the GCC.

The EU exports to GCC are diversified, but the main weight remains on large machinery such as power generation plants, railway locomotives and aircrafts, electrical machinery items and mechanical appliances. These product groups make up about one third of the total exports. Medical equipment make up another large part, leaving the remaining exports to a wide variety of products.

By: Meir Javedanfar- www.meepas.com

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