Oman

Last updated: July 17, 2024

The Sultanate of Oman is located in the southeast of the Arabian Peninsula and borders Yemen, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. It has roughly the same area as Germany. The capital Muscat is located on the Gulf of Oman in the northeast of the country. Due to the influx of foreign workers, Omani citizens represent only approximately 56.4% of the population. The population count is at around 4 million inhabitants.

Political leadership has been held by HM Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said, who succeeded his late cousin HM Sultan Qabus bin Said, in the beginning of 2020. Sultan Qaboos had initiated the modernization of the country after coming to power in 1970. Consequently, Oman is an absolute monarchy, but after the events that took place in the middle east during 2011, the government started giving more authority to Oman’s bicameral legislative body, as well as encouraging citizenship participation in local governance.Oman is a member of numerous international and regional organizations such as the UN, the Arab League, and the Gulf Cooperation Council and plays a mediating role in numerous conflicts.Oman is a member of numerous international and regional organizations such as the UN, the Arab League, and the Gulf Cooperation Council and plays a mediating role in numerous conflicts.

Oman generally pursues a market economy-oriented policy with small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the focus. The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the necessity of intensified economic diversification. Oman’s reform strategy “Agenda 2040” aims to give the local private sector and foreign investors a central role in the economy.

German-Omani relations have traditionally been good and friendly. There are regular bilateral consultations focusing on both politics and economics. In July 2022, Sultan Haitham was the first Omani Sultan to pay an official visit to Germany and was received by the Federal President and the Federal Chancellor.

Since the 1960s, German companies in Oman have helped to successfully build 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 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 travelling to Oman from Europe.