Business Opportunities in Oman

The Malaysian business community should take advantage of the good relationship between Malaysia and Oman to pursue more trade and investments in the Sultanate which has large oil and gas resources.

Malaysian Ambassador to Oman, Datuk Mohd Zamri Mohd Kassim, said that although bilateral relations are excellent, there is something lacking when it comes to economic links between the two countries.

"Despite the plentiful business opportunities in Oman, we have yet to see aggressive participation from Malaysian businessmen," he told Bernama in an interview.

He is concerned that trade between the two countries for the last few years had always been in Oman's favour.

Mohd Zamri said that Oman is stepping up its development programme and expanding its tourism sector.

"To me their main priority is to develop the country and as such there will be ample opportunities for Malaysian businessmen to take part, like in infrastructure, road building, real estate and sharing of expertise in the tourism sector," he said.

Mohd Zamri said the Omani government has identified 12 tourism projects, including a development which is similar to that of Langkawi.

"This is where Malaysians can come into the picture and share their rich experiences in developing Langkawi into a tourism haven," said the former ambassador to Sudan, who was posted here about three months ago.

According to Mohd Zamri, the Omani government has high regard for Malaysians, welcoming Malaysian businessmen to invest in the Sultanate and share their success story.

Noting that Malaysian businessmen tended to rely only on certain markets in the Middle East, he urged them to penetrate more new markets.

"Be bold enough to venture into new markets and don't get the impression that a small market or a small country will not be good enough. Investments should be on a long-term basis," he said.

However, the ambassador cautioned investors to only take up projects in accordance with their capabilities or go for projects on a consortium basis.

"It will not look good if you go into a mega-project which you are not capable of handling and not able to complete because in business, trust is very important," he said.

Mohd Zamri said it was also important to know the culture of a country where one is investing in and the types of investment opportunities available.

"Inquire from the Malaysian mission in the particular country where you are going to invest in because we are here to assist all Malaysians," he said.

Oman, which was recently hit by Cyclone Gonu, has speedily embarked on rebuilding damaged roads and restoring water and electricity in parts ravaged by the storm, the worst natural disaster to hit the country since record-keeping started in 1945.

According to reports, 49 people were killed and 27 reported missing while damages were estimated at about US$1 billion.

Oman has a population of 2.5 million, of which 1.8 million are Omanis while the rest are Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans, Filipinos and Indonesians.

Indians formed the largest number at around 350,000. There are also about 200 Malaysians in Oman.