Association with International Bodies

 

Oman joined the WTO in October 2000, since then, amendments were made to the Investment Law and the laws relating to ownership of enterprises, taxes, extended incentives and custom duty exemption to certain goods as offered by the government. Further, competent authorities with the objective of attracting foreign capital have prepared legislation. Numerous bilateral agreements have been entered into with a number of countries including agreements for the avoidance of double taxation, the Agreement for Promotion and Protection of Investments and other regional agreements and negotiations within the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council. An example is the ongoing negotiations with the European Union to establish a free trade zone.

 

Negotiations are being held also with other countries where trade is exchanged with them on bilateral basis or within the membership of Cooperation Council of the Arab Gulf countries. The Sultanate of Oman is also a member of the Customs Duty Union of this Council and the Arab Free Trade Zone agreement which was initiated in 1998 and will be finalized and activated at the beginning of the year 2005.Oman is also a member of the Indian Ocean League of countries overlooking the Indian Ocean.