TEHRAN - Aiming to expand economic ties, Iran and Oman have signed four cooperation documents in various areas including energy, investment, and free zones during the official visit of Oman's Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said to Tehran.

The document on the energy sector was signed on Sunday by Iran’s Oil Minister Javad Oji and Omani Minister of Energy and Minerals Salim bin Nasser al-Aufi.

The two countries also signed three other documents to cooperate in the economic, investment, and free zones sectors.

Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ehsan Khandouzi and Secretary of Iran's Free Zones High Council Hojatollah Abdolmaleki signed the mentioned documents with the ministers of economy and commerce of Oman.

According to Khandouzi, under the framework of the document signed in the investment sector, the two countries are going to establish a joint investment committee based on which they will introduce parties so that the investment projects, whether in Oman or in Iran, will be approved by this joint committee and will be implemented quickly.

“Also, an agreement for supporting investors has been agreed upon by the two sides, which will be signed by both parties after going through the procedures in the Omani parliament,” the minister said.

Mentioning the prospects of economic relations between the two countries in the future, he said: “Considering that after the visit of President Raisi to Muscat last year, the volume of business exchanges between Iran and Oman increased significantly, the evidence indicates that the coming months and next year will also witness an increase in trade relations between the two countries.”

“Our agreement with our Omani counterparts is for the relations between the two countries to enter a phase of joint investments in addition to completing the current trade ties, which will create a much more lasting economic link in the long term,” Khandouzi noted.

Earlier this month, a Joint Iran-Oman Business Forum was held at the place of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) in a bid to boost trade exchange between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Sultanate of Oman.

The forum aimed at consolidating bilateral business relations, conducting strategic partnerships to augment the volume of investments and business activity, and accessing new economic fields.

Several B2B meetings were held during the forum between Omani and Iranian businesspeople. The meetings targeted striking business and investment deals. As many as 250 Iranian firms took part in the event.

Prior to the forum, ICCIMA Head Gholam-Hossein Shafeie met with his Omani counterpart to discuss avenues of mutual cooperation between the two countries’ private sectors.

In this meeting, while emphasizing the need to remove trade obstacles, Shafeie said: “Attention should be paid to multilateral cooperation and joint investments so that the markets of the two countries can take advantage of each other’s business opportunities in any situation.”

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Photo: Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Ehsan Khandouzi (R) and Omani Minister of Commerce, Industry and Investment Promotion Qais Mohammed Al Yousef sign co-op documents in Tehran on Sunday.