This article covers the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Oman, their Strategic Partnership, visits and telephone calls between leaders and ministers, Oman's participation in India's G20 Presidency, the dialogue mechanisms between the two governments and the main agreements they have signed. It is based on the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) bilateral brief on India and Oman dated July 2026.
Diplomatic relations and Strategic Partnership
According to the MEA brief of July 2026, diplomatic relations between India and Oman were established in 1955. The relationship was upgraded to a Strategic Partnership in November 2008. The brief states that India and Oman are linked by geography, history and culture and describes the two countries as enjoying warm and cordial relations.
The brief calls Oman a strategic partner of India and an important interlocutor at the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Arab League and Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) fora. It also describes Oman as a crucial pillar of India's West Asia Policy and as India's oldest regional strategic partner, and says that political engagement between the two countries has increasingly taken on a more strategic shape.
Visits at the highest level
Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi visited Oman in February 2018 and again in December 2025. On the December 2025 visit he was accompanied by the External Affairs Minister, the Commerce and Industry Minister, the National Security Adviser and Secretary (CPV&OIA).
His Majesty Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik paid a State visit to India on 16-17 December 2023. HH Sayyid Asaad bin Tarik Al Said, Deputy Prime Minister for International Relations & Cooperation Affairs and Personal Representative of His Majesty the Sultan, visited India for the G20 Summit on 09-10 September 2023.
Calls between leaders and ministers
Prime Minister Modi and Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik held phone conversations in April 2020 and February 2021, discussing COVID-19 and bilateral cooperation. On 11 June 2024, the Prime Minister received a congratulatory call from His Majesty on his re-appointment as Prime Minister of India. The brief also records that the Prime Minister held telephone calls twice in March 2026 to discuss regional developments.
External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar held telephone calls with Oman's Foreign Minister in October 2023, February 2024, June 2024, July 2024, April 2025, December 2025, March 2026 and May 2026. The March 2026 call with Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr was on the regional situation. The two ministers met on 09 September 2024 on the sidelines of the India-GCC Ministerial Meeting in Riyadh, and again on the sidelines of the India-Arab Foreign Ministers Meeting (IAFMM) in New Delhi in January 2026.
Ministerial visits
External Affairs Minister Dr. S. Jaishankar visited Oman on 23-25 December 2019, and on 16 February 2025 to take part in the 8th Indian Ocean Conference (IOC). He paid an official visit to Oman on 10 July 2026 and held bilateral talks with Foreign Minister Sayyid Badr Albusaidi. Minister of State for External Affairs and Parliamentary Affairs Shri V. Muraleedharan visited Oman on 15-17 December 2020, 3-4 October 2022 and 18-19 October 2023.
Foreign Minister H.E. Sayyid Badr bin Hamad bin Hamood Albusaidi visited India on 23-24 March 2022, and again on 01-03 March 2023 for the G20 Foreign Ministers' Meeting and Raisina Dialogue 2023. He came to India in January 2026 for the India-Arab Foreign Ministers Meeting.
Other visits from Oman listed in the brief include those of the Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, H.E. Eng Said bin Hamoud Al Maawali, on 18 August 2023, and of H.E. Saeed Al Maawali, Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, in February 2026 for the AI Impact Summit 2026. Visits connected with trade and defence are covered in the other articles of this guide.
India's G20 Presidency
The brief states that, as a mark of special friendship, India invited Oman to take part in the G20 Summit and meetings as a guest country during India's Presidency in 2023. Oman took part in more than 150 meetings of the Working Groups, and 9 Omani Ministers travelled to India for G20 Ministerial Meetings. HH Sayyid Asaad bin Tarik Al Said represented Oman at the Summit.
Dialogue mechanisms
The brief records three meetings of the India-Oman Strategic Consultative Group (IOSCG). Dr. Ausaf Sayeed, Secretary (CPV) & OIA, Ministry of External Affairs, visited Oman for an IOSCG meeting on 27 February 2023. H.E. Sheikh Khalifa Alharthy, Undersecretary for Political Affairs in Oman's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, visited India on 03-04 December 2024 for the 13th IOSCG meeting. Shri Arun Kumar Chatterjee, Secretary (CPV) & OIA, visited Oman on 3-4 December 2025 for an IOSCG meeting.
The Joint Commission Meeting on trade, the Strategic Dialogue and the Joint Military Cooperation Committee are described in the trade and defence articles of this guide.
Cooperation in other sectors
Shri S. Somanath, Secretary of the Department of Space and ISRO Chairman, led a five-member delegation on an official visit to Oman on 14-15 June 2023. Minister of State for Health & Family Welfare Dr. Bharati Pravin Pawar visited Oman on 24-25 November 2022 for the 3rd Global Ministerial Conference on Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) in Muscat.
Dr. Fatma Al Ajmi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Health for Administrative, Financial and Planning Affairs, led a 5 member delegation to India on 24-25 February 2023 for the 1st Joint Working Group (JWG) meeting on Health.
Agreements and MoUs
The brief lists the areas covered by key bilateral agreements and MoUs between India and Oman. Those that fall outside trade, defence, culture and travel are cooperation in digital payment systems, Health, Information Technology, peaceful uses of Outer Space and Agriculture. There are also MoUs for cooperation between the Foreign Service Institute (FSI) and the Omani Diplomatic Institute, and between the State Audit Institution of Oman and the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General of India.
An MoU for cooperation in IT was among the agreements signed during the State visit of Sultan Haitham Bin Tarik in December 2023. During the Prime Minister's visit to Oman in December 2025, the two sides signed an MoU on Agriculture and Allied Sectors and an EPC on Millet Cultivation and Agri-food Innovation.
The other agreements signed during these two visits, including the Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement of December 2025, are described in the trade, defence, culture and practical articles of this guide.