The text of the following statement was released by the Governments of the United States of America and the Sultanate of Oman on the occasion of the Second U.S.-Oman Strategic Dialogue.
Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and the Environment at the U.S. Department of State Jose W. Fernandez welcomed His Excellency Sheikh Khalifa bin Ali bin Issa al-Harthy, Under Secretary for Political Affairs at the Foreign Ministry of Oman, to Washington on April 24, 2024, for the second Strategic Dialogue between the United States and the Sultanate of Oman.
The inaugural Strategic Dialogue in February 2023 in Muscat advanced cooperation in three priority areas: trade and investment; clean energy; and education, culture, and science. This year’s dialogue identified new opportunities to strengthen the bilateral partnership in these priority areas.
A key trade and investment goal is maximizing bilateral ties under the U.S.-Oman Free Trade Agreement (FTA). This year, the United States and Oman celebrated the fifteenth anniversary of the signing of the FTA. During the second Strategic Dialogue, both sides reinforced the importance of taking advantage of the FTA to further strengthening the bilateral economic relationship, which can contribute greatly to Oman’s Vision 2040 goals while also advancing U.S. economic interests. They affirmed the value of private sector engagement to increase market access, promote trade and investment, and address shared challenges. They discussed opportunities for U.S. companies in the Omani market, highlighting information and communication technology services, semiconductors, and clean energy as areas of opportunity.
The two sides also discussed ways to promote mutual prosperity, including through the Memorandum of Understanding signed last year between the Export-Import Bank of the United States and the Oman Ministry of Finance to facilitate procurement of up to $500 million of U.S. goods and services for projects in Oman and through the newly-established Commercial Attaché’s office at the Embassy of Oman in Washington.
The two countries explored opportunities to collaborate on demonstrating and deploying carbon capture, use, and storage, and carbon dioxide removal technologies, including via technical exchanges, investment, and trade missions. U.S.-Oman cooperation on geologic carbon was reinforced by a technical workshop hosted in Muscat in September 2023 by Oman’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between Oman’s Ministry of Energy and Minerals and U.S. firm Eden GeoPower to study and demonstrate the potential of stimulated hydrogen production in Oman. The two sides committed to pursue new avenues to strengthen cooperation in developing clean energy solutions, including by leveraging U.S. private sector expertise, as well as opportunities for investment in critical minerals necessary for the clean energy transition.
Both countries followed up on environmental priorities within the framework of the U.S.-Oman Memorandum of Understanding on Environmental Cooperation. They explored ways to connect researchers from Omani universities with their colleagues in American research centers and universities to enhance scientific research on clean energy.
Both sides welcomed continuing cooperation on education, culture, and science, citing the selection of Oman’s first nominees for the Fulbright Visiting Scholars Program in nearly 10 years as a major milestone. The United States and Oman look forward to expanding cultural, educational, and scientific exchanges in priority fields, including artificial intelligence, downstream space applications, higher education, clean energy, inclusive education, and the media and film industries. The two sides also decided to explore new ways to increase the number of Omani students studying in the United States, and U.S. students studying in Oman.
The United States and the Sultanate of Oman are committed to maintaining the exchange of high-level bilateral visits, including the goal of scheduling the next round of the Strategic Dialogue in 2025.
