President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko continues his working visit to the Sultanate of Oman. Today he visited the Port and Free Economic Zone of Sohar, as reported by a BELTA correspondent.
These facilities are of great importance in the plans for the development of trade and economic cooperation.
The day before, Alexander Lukashenko told journalists about the proposal by the Sultan of Oman, Haitham bin Tarik Al Said, to create a hub for Belarusian goods in the country.
"It is very important for us to determine a point. The port, perhaps, we will look at something else. And from there, our technologies, which are needed in Oman, will go. Therefore, we will create joint ventures here based on Belarusian technologies and will move west, east, north from here, from the Indian Ocean, selling our goods," said the Belarusian leader. "The Sultan made a very good proposal – to create a hub here, a centre for Belarusian goods. And I honestly told him yesterday that we have learned to produce a lot. We haven't learned to trade very well yet. But they have been trading for ages (know how to trade. – BELTA’s note). And in this regard, they promised to provide us with assistance."
The Port of Sohar was built in 2002 and is located southeast of the Strait of Hormuz, on the coast of the Gulf of Oman. It handles over 1 million tonnes of sea cargo per week and about 3.5 thousand vessels per year.
The Sohar Free Economic Zone was established in 2010 next to the port. The deep-water port and the adjacent FEZ are located in the administrative centre of the North Al Batinah Governorate, halfway between the cities of Dubai (UAE) and Muscat (Oman). They occupy an area of 45 sq. km. The Sohar FEZ is one of the four special economic zones in Oman. The Salalah Free Zone, Al Mazunah Free Zone on the border with Yemen, and the city of Duqm also have the status of FEZs. The port and FEZ are managed by Sohar International Development Company, a joint venture between the Omani government, the Port of Rotterdam (Netherlands), and the Indian company SKIL Infrastructure Ltd.
Since its establishment, the Sohar FEZ has attracted investments worth over $26 billion and has become one of the most dynamic and successful industrial zones in the Gulf region. The FEZ hosts enterprises in the petrochemical and logistics sectors, plastics production, metallurgy, mining, food, and automotive industries.
Among the zone's advantages are convenient logistics, absence of import duties and re-export duties, exemption from corporate profit taxes for up to 25 years, and absence of personal income tax. The manufactured products benefit from a number of preferences under Oman's interstate agreements.