Jewish Exponent: During a speech last week in Center City, Oman's ambassador to the United States lauded the 2006 free-trade agreement between the two countries and urged increased economic and political cooperation.
Hunaina Sultan Al-Mughairy—a rare female ambassador from the Arab world who's represented the oil-rich Persian Gulf nation since 2005—also stated in her remarks that the sultanate no longer participates in the decades-old Arab economic boycott against Israel.
Renouncing the boycott, which had been eased throughout the 1990s, paved the way for Oman's agreement with the United States and inclusion in the World Trade Organization.
Speaking in front of a room full of business leaders at the Pyramid Club, Al-Mughairy explained that Oman, a country of more than 3 million people that borders Saudi Arabia and is dominated by a branch of Islam that's neither Sunni nor Shi'ite, is seeking billions in U.S. investment to help diversify its economy. Oman is a politically stable nation that has served as an ally in the broader war on terror, stated Al-Mughairy. She added that the country hopes to reduce its economic dependence on the sale of oil and gas reserves.
The program was sponsored by the Philadelphia-based Global Interdependence Center, a group that promotes trade and dialogue.
Currently, the United States has free-trade agreements with just 14 countries; the other Middle Eastern nations included are Israel, Jordan and Bahrain.
"For Oman, our trade relations with the United States has been really very small in absolute dollars," said Al-Mughairy, adding that imports and exports to and from the United States total about $2 billion.
According to Philadelphia's Department of Commerce, trade between Oman and Philadelphia jumped 235 percent following the 2006 pact, to roughly $89 million.
For decades, Oman took part in the Arab economic boycott against Israel, which a central office in Syria organized. It had a crippling effect because the Arab world essentially blacklisted any companies that dealt with Israel. In the 1970s, the United States passed a law forbidding American companies from participating in the boycott.
In 1994, Oman and half a dozen other Gulf States announced that they were no longer boycotting companies that did business with Israel but were still refusing to trade with Israel itself. Oman and the Jewish state have no diplomatic relations, but they did exchange trade offices from 1996 to 2000 when Oman closed its operations after the start of the second intifada.
'Challenges Need to Be Met'
But has Oman really abandoned the practice of boycotting Israel, both officially and in practice?
"Oman does not formally apply the boycott," said Ohad Cohen, head of the commercial mission at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, D.C. "Nevertheless, from such a decision, until comprehensive and diverse large-scale trade, there are still some challenges that need to be met."
Cohen added that trade between the two countries is essentially nonexistent.
The 2008 National Trade Estimate Report on Foreign Trade Barriers also stated that Oman no longer applies the boycott. However, the document noted that "Omani firms have reportedly avoided marketing any identifiable Israeli consumer products."
Susan Heller Pinto, director of Middle Eastern affairs for the Anti-Defamation League, acknowledged that Oman does not send a representative to Arab League meetings on the boycott. "However, at this time, no official trade deals are signed between Israel and Oman, although both sides have put out 'feelers.' "