India's relations with the Sultanate of Oman go back thousands of years. The modern connections between the two countries have only grown stronger.

THOUGH FORMAL ties between India and Oman were established in 1955 when India opened a consulate in Muscat, ties between our two countries go back thousands of years. Today there are about 350,000 Indians working in Oman, along with many Indian establishments working in different fields such as energy, services, industry and construction. Recently Reliance was awarded the first ever offshore rights to explore oil and gas by the Omani government. Also, some 1,500 Omani students are studying in Indian universities and academic establishments.

Historically, Oman has been influenced by its geography-mountains, sands and sea. Because of the difficulties of crossing the mountains and sands, the sea was the easiest way of connecting Omnis with the outside world, and India was one of the main destinations for Omani adventurers. Several archaeological findings show that human interaction between the two countries date back to more than 4,500 years ago. Ancient artifacts, found in the Sultanate are made of clay and pottery with drawings and seals that symbolize the Indus Valley Civilization. Cities in western India, like Dwarka and Calicut, where thriving ports in those days. Historically, the Sultanate was famous for exporting frankincense, dates, copper and Arabian horses to India. India exported fabrics, spices and wood used by Omanis to build their ships.

Some historical references mention the arrival of Al Yaariby State's naval fleets on the Indian coast in the 17th century for economic interaction, trade and exchange of goods. At the end of the 18th century, Tipu Sultan of Mysore made special commercial relations with Sayyid Sultan Bin Ahmad, the Sultan of Oman at that time. To look after their mutual interests, Sayyid Sultan appointed an agent in Mangalore and Tipu appointed an agent in Muscat. The two of them even consulted each other about the best way to deal with European forces that had started to penetrate the Indian Ocean and the Arabian Sea at that time.

There are records of the migration of many Indian families from Sind and Gujarat to Oman in the past 300 years. There are indications that India may have received Omani migration as well. In Hyderabad, for example, there is an area called 'Salalah', similar to the city of Salalah of Oman. And in Al Batina Coast of the Sultanate, there is a Khour Al Hind (Bay of India) and another called Hilat Al Hind (District of India). There is also a remarkable degree of similarity between the embroidery on garments and wooden crafts in Rajasthan and Oman. The Omani turban, the masar, was for a long time exclusively made and exported from Kashmir. But the modern connections are equally striking. Sultan Taimur bin Faisal went to Mumbai after abdicating the throne in 1932, lived there till he passed away in the mid-Sixties and was buried there. Sultan Said bin Taimur and H.H. Sayyid Fahr bin Taimur have studied at Mayo College.

When Sultan Qaboos bin Said assumed the throne in 1970, Oman entered a new era in its history. A policy of modernization internally and openness to the outside world was initiated. The Sultanate inaugurated its embassy in New Delhi in 1972, which, was followed by the opening of the Omani consulate in Mumbai in 1976. India's External Affairs Minister Swaran Singh was the first high-level Indian official to visit Oman in 1973. Oman's Deputy Prime Minister for Security Affairs H.H. Sayyid Fahr Bin Taimur was the first Omani dignitary to visit India officially in 1976 and 1980. Since then, there has been a lot of traffic - including at the level of PMs - between the two countries.

With the change in the global economic system in the early Nineties and the relative openness of India to foreign investment, the two countries agreed to enter into strategic economic partnership cooperation. A number of initiatives and projects were discussed, including the fertilizer project in Sur, east of Oman, at a cost of approximately $1 billion. It is to be inaugurated this year.

The economic sector one of the key elements of bilateral relations days. A set of agreements already exist between the two countries, among them one on the avoidance of double taxation and another on investment protection. Trade exchanges have reached about $ 300 million annually (excluding oil and gas). This is expected to rise to about $ 600 million after the inauguration of the Sur fertilizer project. From the Omani side, investments in India are more than $ 200 million in the sectors of refineries, tourism, pharmaceutical industry and home furniture.

Given these ties, based on a long history of trust, respect and mutual benefit, we can be sure that the future will be even brighter.

{The writer is Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman.}