Oman Sultan Haitham bin Tarik lands in India for three-day state visit

Oman Sultan Haitham bin Tarik on Friday landed in India for three-day maiden visit to further reinforce the longstanding friendship and cooperation between the two countries.

He was welcomed by V Muraleedharan, Minister of State (MoS) for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs of India, who had paid an official visit to the Sultanate of Oman from October 18 to 19 earlier this year.

Taking to X, MEA spokesperson Arindam Bagchi wrote, "His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik of Oman arrives to a warm welcome in New Delhi on his first State Visit to India. Received by @MOS_MEA at the airport. The visit will further reinforce the longstanding friendship and cooperation between India & Oman and strengthen bilateral ties."

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Oman Sultan is visiting the country with a high-level delegation of senior ministers and officials, the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) said in an official release.

India and Oman share a long-standing friendship rooted in historical, cultural, and economic ties. Moreover, people-to-people contact between India and Oman can be traced back 5,000 years.

The diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1955, and the relationship was upgraded to a strategic partnership in 2008.

According to MEA, this will be the first state visit of Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tarik to India and marks a significant milestone in the diplomatic relations between India and Oman.

Upon arrival here in the national capital, Oman's Sultan will also be called on by the External Affairs Minister, S Jaishankar today (Friday), the MEA said in a release.

The Sultan of Oman is visiting India at the invitation of President Droupadi Murmu and will be received by PM Modi and President Murmu at the Rashtrapati Bhavan for a ceremonial welcome on 16 December.

He will also visit the National Gallery of Modern Art here and hold a meeting with PM Modi at Hyderabad House on day two of his visit.

During his visit, PM Modi will also host a luncheon in his honour.

The visit will be an opportunity to explore avenues for future collaboration between India and Oman for regional stability, progress and prosperity, the MEA release said.

Oman is India's closest defence partner in the Gulf region as well, and defence cooperation has emerged as a key pillar of the strategic partnership between India and Oman, according to MEA.

Oman is the only country in West Asia with which all three services of the Indian Armed Forces conduct regular bilateral exercises and service-level staff talks.

Given the strong relationship with Oman, India also extended a special invitation to the Sultanate of Oman to participate in the G20 Summit and meetings as a guest country under India's G20 Presidency.

Oman actively participated in over 150 working group meetings, and nine ministers from Oman participated in various G20 ministerial meetings.

With inputs from agencies