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Maqbool to meet with businessmen shortly over FTA with US MUSCAT — Maqbool bin Ali Sultan, Minister of Commerce and Industry, has said that the Oman-US Free Trade Agreement (FTA), signed in 2006, took effect on January 1, 2009. The minister said he would meet shortly with Omani businessmen to explain the advantages of the FTA, which aims to liberalise the movement of goods and services. In a statement to Oman News Agency, Maqbool said that the FTA is balanced and provides benefits to both sides. He pointed out that the pact will enhance economic relations, increase commercial exchange, as well as investments, jobs and economic growth. It will also provide a wider horizon for the Omani market upon the introduction of services and investments from the United States, he added. Besides increasing commercial exchange, the FTA will help remove trade barriers and provide better opportunities for Omani exports to enter the US market. Oman will benefit from the high capacities of the US in the field of economic and technical fields, said Maqbool. The minister said he expects US investors to take good interest in the Sultanate, which is embarked on mega projects, industrial as well as knowledge-based projects, which occupy a prominent place in the Sultanate’s industrial strategy and future vision. The FTA will provide a legal basis which will assure American, as well as Omani, investors about the safety of their investments and commercial activities in each other’s countries, including the protection of property rights and joint protection of the environment.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           — ONA