Big plans for co-operation

Belarus and Oman plan to establish a joint investment fund that will focus on developing investment projects across various sectors, Abdulsalam bin Mohammed Al Murshidi, President of the Oman Investment Authority (OIA), told journalists

Abdulsalam bin Mohammed Al Murshidi identified the establishment of a joint Belarusian–Omani investment fund as one of the priorities in co-operation with Belarus. This fund will enable investments in projects within Belarus. The Omani side has already assembled a team that will soon arrive in Minsk to begin daily operations at the office. “The fund will focus on developing investment projects in the fields of industry, pharmaceuticals, agriculture and food, as well as in other sectors,” he noted.
As informed by Abdulsalam bin Mohammed Al Murshidi, the creation of a Belarusian hub in Oman was among the issues discussed at a meeting with President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko. The hub will make it possible to promote Belarusian products to the markets of Africa, Asia, the Indian subcontinent and other territories. When asked how the Belarusian hub is seen in Oman, Abdulsalam bin Mohammed Al Murshidi stressed that supply of any product relies on logistics, “In this regard, we have already established logistics routes for the delivery of Belarusian products to Oman. We know and understand very well how to do business, what the demand is in the Indian subcontinent, in East Africa. We hope to jointly sell high-quality Belarusian goods not only to Oman, but also to other countries. We have already established a number of joint logistics companies in Oman, which are aimed at selling Belarusian agricultural goods and food, and we are also considering the field of petroleum products. We hope that new companies will work in this direction to distribute Belarusian products to the region.”
The President of the Oman Investment Authority also explained what advantages Oman sees in its work with Belarus. According to him, Muscat would like to monetise relations with Minsk. “We have already done a lot in our co-operation. Primarily, we have built trusting relations between our countries. Our teams are doing their job very well, working on bilateral projects. Belarus and Oman complement each other: Oman has some resources, and Belarus has its own. Moreover, we share common values, which also allows us to look with confidence into the future of our relationship,” he concluded.

At the same time, it was noted that Oman is ready to co-operate on a trilateral basis: in particular, over a large potash fertiliser production project — together with Algeria and Oman (its implementation was proposed by President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko).

“Indeed, we are ready to co-operate on a trilateral basis in third countries. As for co-operation with Algeria, we understand that there are inexpensive resources, including natural gas, in this country. We could jointly explore the possibility of creating some kind of production of complex fertilisers,” Abdulsalam bin Mohammed Al Murshidi said.

Oman plans to invest in expanding dairy production in Belarus and improve the related logistics supply chains to the country and other territories in the region — as stated by Abdullah Al Rashdi, Director General of Oman Food Capital (a daughter enterprise of the Oman Investment Authority that invests in agriculture and food), after his meeting with President of Belarus Aleksandr Lukashenko

Oman has already received the first shipments of Belarusian food products, including powdered milk and butter, and appreciated them. “The price and quality of Belarusian products are well balanced,” Abdullah Al Rashdi stressed.
Actually, those were not deliveries of Belarusian finished products for final consumers: butter and powdered milk were supplied to producers of other food products. “We are only shaping our plans to import pure products, but the first test batches were very successful. Therefore, we aim to continue deliveries, but not only as pure imports to Oman. We plan to invest in expanding the dairy production in Belarus and improve the logistics supply chains of these products to Oman and the countries of the region.”
Answering the question of what Oman is interested in producing together with Belarus and which domestic technologies are useful and look especially attractive for his country, Abdullah Al Rashdi explained, “We would like to focus primarily on the production of high-protein products. First of all, we are talking about dairy products, powdered milk, baby food and many other by-products that are obtained during milk processing.”
Oman does not plan to focus only on this area.

“We are looking at other industries and products that we can produce in your country. Belarusian technologies in the field of agriculture are really good, so we are now studying very closely which ones we can use at the facilities that we plan to set up in Belarus,” Abdullah Al Rashdi noted.

Oman Food Capital is also interested in the possible application of Belarusian agricultural technologies directly in Oman. “Among other things, we are talking about the possible processing and production of final products here, in Oman, using Belarusian agricultural raw materials,” Abdullah Al Rashdi shared some plans.

Based on materials of sb.by and belta.by