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Muscat: The India-Oman Special Investment Fund was set up during Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's two-day visit to the Sultanate that ended on Sunday when he left for Qatar as part of his Gulf tour.
The fund, to be set up with an initial seed money of $100 million (Dh367.4 million) could go up to $1.5 billion and has an extendable two-year term.
The memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the joint investment fund was signed between the State Bank of India and the State General Reserve Fund of Oman. It will focus on infrastructure, tourism, health and telecom and urban infrastructure.
The agreement was sealed after a meeting between Singh and Oman's Deputy Prime Minister for State Council, Sayyid Fahd Bin Mahmoud Al Said.
The Indian Prime Minister also discussed with Sayyid Fahd possibilities of expanding the capacity of the Oman-India Fertiliser Company, which is one of India's largest joint ventures abroad. The $969 million project went on stream in January 2006.
Accelerated trade
"The current international economic and financial situation provides a unique opportunity for India to leverage the vast surplus funds in the Gulf for our development needs, and to accelerate trade and investment flows into each other's countries," Singh told the Omani business community yesterday morning.
"We seek a broad-based relationship involving our parliamentarians, business communities and civil society actors to realise the full potential of our relations. Your role in building this partnership is truly critical," he told the large gathering of Omani businessmen.
He further pointed out that the destinies of the Gulf countries and India were closely interlinked. "We have had a tradition of trade and civilisational contacts through the sea over many centuries," he pointed out, adding that the large Indian community in Oman served as a bridge between the two countries
"Today, the revolution in the communications and information technology sectors has brought us even closer together," he added.
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