Investment agreements between Oman and Austria

Oman and Austria on Sunday in Muscat signed an agreement provides for encouraging and protecting investment as guarantees to investors in the two countries. This was during the visit of the Austrian President Thomas Klestil to Oman.

The agreement was signed by the Omani minister of national economy Ahmad Bin Abdul Nabi Mekki and the Austrian minister of the economy and labor Martin Barnishtine.

The Gulf news agency said that the agreement falls in the course of Oman's efforts to ensure the necessary legal framework to attract foreign investments so as to create new job opportunities and to make use of expertise and technology available in various areas as well as expanding the base and verifying production, according to rules set to this effect.

On Saturday evening, the Austrian President held talks with the Sultan Qabous of Oman dealt with conditions in the Middle East. The Omani minister for foreign affairs Youssef Bin Alawi said that Klestil expressed the EU readiness to play a role concerning the Middle East.

The Omani minister added that negotiations between the Gulf Cooperation Council and the European Union to establish a free trade Zone between the two sides constituted the essence of talks between the two sides.