Alwaght- As the new Iranian administration led by President Sayyed Ibrahim Raeisi set its diplomacy and foreign policy on cooperation with the neighbors, the foreign ministry has put high on its agenda expansion of relations with neighbors to realize this aim.
Foreign Minister Hussein Amir-Abdollahian visited Oman and then Qatar on Monday and Tuesday heading a high-ranking delegation. The central topic of discussions was regional conditions and the ways to boost economic, political, and cultural ties.
Bolstering economic ties with Qatar and Oman
In Oman, as the first destination of the Iranian FM's visit, economic issues and the development of cooperation between the two countries in this field have formed an important part of Amir Abdullahian's meeting with Omani officials.
"In the economic field, we discussed the resumption of movement of launches between the two countries now that we contained the coronavirus. The Omani side promised to follow that issue so that we see the launches resume movement for goods exchange," he said.
He continued that there are problems for the citizens of the two countries in doing business and public activities, and resumption of flights between the two countries can help. "This issue was raised with the prime minister and it was agreed that the necessary measures be taken in this regard," he went on.
Iran and Oman, as two countries with very close political relations in the region, have relatively good economic relations with a trade volume of about $1 billion. They share the idea that this volume should touch $5 billion. Iran has recently said that Oman has released nearly $2 billion of the Iranian assets it froze due to the American sanctions.
Also, another important economic issue under discussion during Oman visit of the Iranian FM was the transit routes and sites. FM Amir-Abdollahian talked about joint investment in Chabahar Port of Iran. In 2011, Iran, Oman, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan, Afghanistan, and Qatar signed an agreement to revive a transit route connecting them. So, possibly, Amir-Abdollahian's comment should be related to Ashgabat Agreement which eyes facilitating transit between Central Asia and Persian Gulf. The agreement was joined later by India and Pakistan. In 2013 Qatar left it.
Being in the way of international transit routes has been of great attention in recent years for Iran and Oman. Oman recently increased investment in its ports to for the good of Persian Gulf trade boost.
With Oman crude reserves declining, the country has targeted five sectors, including transit, for economic development and diversification of government revenues. 40 percent of these revenues are currently earned from oil exports.
Transit and the roadmap to transform into gateway to the Persian Gulf, using its location on global shipping routes, according to the country's Vision 2040, can employ 300,000 people in Oman. For centuries, Oman ruled over a vast maritime trading empire that spanned most of western Indian Ocean.
Today, one of Oman's strategic advantages is its location outside the Strait of Hormuz. This narrow waterway connects the Persian Gulf to other parts of the world.
But Oman's ambitions to become the gateway to the Persian Gulf face a major competitor such as the UAE, with the Emirati global port company DP World moving almost one in every 10 containers in the world. The company operates ports, terminals, free zones, and logistics centers on six continents, including the Port of Jebel Ali in Dubai, whose revenues accounts for about a quarter of the UAE's GDP.
Oman has three main ports: Salalah, Daqam and the main gate of Oman, Sohar. The port of Sohar has recently launched refueling services for ships –a business dominated by Jebel Ali– which offers low-sulfur Mazut and diesel.
Salalah Port serves primarily as a transportation hub for regional markets, including East Africa and Yemen, transporting containers coming from long distances to their final destinations.
In 2020, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development ranked Omani ports first and faster than UAE ports in terms of container handling speed.
Oman has also long sought to turn the port of Daqam, about 550 kilometers north of Salalah, into a terminal outside the Strait of Hormuz to export Persian Gulf oil to international markets.
Therefore, according to these goals, cooperation to connect the ports of the two countries to become one of the arteries of international trade in the coming years, given the investment of Indians in Chabahar port and the main role of this port in the north-south transit belt, is very important in developing the economic cooperation between Iran and Oman.
Beside Oman, Qatar, another Persian Gulf neighbor of Iran, has a close relationship with Iran and in recent years Doha and Tehran moved towards even warmer ties, with the peak being the time of the Saudi-led Arab blockade on Qatar in 2017. During the rift, Iran played as a crucial breathing space for Qatar to mitigate the impact of the sanctions.
"In the past, there have been talks about the World Cup games, and we will talk about the capacity of the Islamic Republic of Iran, especially in the field of technical and engineering services and the facilities that Iran has and Qatar can use," Amir-Abdollahian said of the issues of discussion with the Qatari side.
Iran's current share from Qatar's foreign trade is very small and in no way close to the level of political relations between the two countries, nor Iran's trade, industrial, agricultural, and technological potentials. According to the vice president of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, in last June, out of a total of about $26.7 billion of Qatar imports, Iran's share was between $360 million. However, the two countries have set a target of $1 billion for the near future.
Political discussions; from nuclear case to regional issues
Beside economic matters, political issues were on agenda of Iranian delegation to the two Arab states.
Oman has been one of the main mediators in the formation of nuclear talks between Iran and international powers, especially the US. At present and while the nuclear negotiations have run into challenges and the West evades providing guarantees to Tehran about future adherence to its commitments, the visit to Muscat can bolster Iran's international position. In its recent meeting, the (Persian) Gulf Cooperation Council voiced support to continuation of Iranian talks with the world powers. This stance, besides recent months' tendency for defusing the tensions with Iran by Saudi Arabia as the dominant member of the (P) GCC, can help boost regional stability.
Two important regional issues and crises for Iran, in which Oman and Qatar have each played a role in the diplomatic process, are Afghanistan and Yemen. In recent years, Iran has always stressed the need for non-interference in the affairs of the two countries in crisis, the end of war and bloodshed, finding a political solution and the importance of starting negotiations and the process of national reconciliation.
All in all, FM Amir-Abdollahian's visit should be viewed as a sign of Tehran's resolve for expansion of political and economic cooperation with the neighbors for the good of regional peace and stability.
