Oman’s Sultan visited Saudi Arabia on Sunday on his first official overseas trip since assuming power last year, with talks expected to specialize in the Yemen war and economic and investment cooperation as Muscat looks to prop up its finances.
Sultan Haitham bin Tariq al-Said, whose country has joined United Nations-led efforts to secure a first step in
Yemen, arrived within the Red Sea city of NEOM for a two-day visit and met Saudi King Salman and prince Mohammed
bin Salman.
The sultan recently faced his biggest challenge with demonstrations against unemployment within the debt-burdened country, which is pursuing wide-ranging reforms and austerity measures.
Saudi Arabia and Oman will establish a joint council to oversee several agreements, Oman’s secretary of state Badr al-Busaidi told the Saudi-owned Asharq Alawsat newspaper on Saturday.
He said the opening of a delayed new road linking the 2 Gulf states would facilitate logistics and other infrastructure projects.
Since the oil price crash in 2014, Oman’s debt to GDP ratio has leapt from about 15% in 2015 to 80% last year, while Oman’s plans to diversify revenue faraway from oil and to scale back spending on its bloated public sector have made slow progress.
Oman is among the weakest financially among the Gulf oil producers but has long played the role of facilitator in efforts to resolve regional conflicts due to its neutral policy .
The sultanate, which shares borders with Yemen, has intensified diplomatic efforts aimed toward securing a ceasefire between Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement and therefore the Saudi-led coalition that has been battling the group for quite six years.
Talks between the coalition and therefore the Houthis are focused on steps to lift a blockade on Houthi-held ports and Sanaa airport reciprocally for a promise from the Iran-aligned group for truce talks.
The coalition intervened in Yemen in March 2015 after the Houthis ousted the internationally recognised government from the capital, Sanaa. The war has killed tens of thousands of Yemenis and pushed the country to the brink of famine.
