Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq meets with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo not pictured at Al-Alam Palace in Muscat, Oman February 21, 2020. DUBAI, Nov 22, Reuters - Oman and Qatar signed agreements on military cooperation, taxation, tourism, ports, labour and investment on Monday as Oman tried to invigorate its debt-burdened economy, the state news agencies of both the Gulf states said.
Oman is one of the weakest financially supported Gulf oil producers. Since the death of his predecessor, Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said took power almost two years ago, it has pursued wide-ranging reforms and austerity measures.
The agreements were signed during a two-day state visit by Oman's Sultan Haitham to the small but wealthy state of Qatar. The deals included an agreement on double taxation and tax evasion on income and capital taxes, as well as an investment cooperation agreement between sovereign wealth funds the Qatar Investment Authority and the Oman Investment Authority, said Qatar's Amiri Diwan, the administrative office of the Emir.
Details on the deals were not immediately available.
Since the oil price crash in 2014, Oman has accumulated large amounts of debt, which is a country of around 5 million people. It recently embarked on a medium-term plan to fix its finances that were also hit by the COVID - 19 epidemic.
Oman was in talks with some Gulf countries last year for financial help, according to an October 2020 bond prospectus.