Efforts on to source more fruits, vegetables from South Africa

Oman is eyeing to source more natural crops, predominantly fruits and vegetables, leafy vegetables and staple crops from South Africa.

With this in mind, a team of 40 leading vendors from Oman visited the country and toured for nearly three weeks exploring African farms and agents recently.

“The visit that lasted for nearly three weeks was a great experience in terms of sourcing fruits and vegetables and other natural crops from South Africa which has been a major supplier of the same to Oman”, said Jaffer Khan, Business Development Manager at the Suhol al Fayha, a leading vegetable and fruits suppliers in the country.

“We toured the major agricultural fields of the country with farmers and suppliers and networked during our tour which would eventually reflect in the bilateral trade between the two countries”, he added.

Almost a dozen of South African countries operate in Oman, mostly in the agriculture and food processing sectors. The bilateral trade between the Oman and South Africa stood at RO 167.5 million in 2016 which has been showing a steady growth in the recent years.

A high level Omani trade delegation headed by Dr Ali bin Masoud al Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce and Industry, met with Trade and Industry minister of South Africa and discussed ways to encourage bilateral trade and industrial relations and explored means of promoting them particularly in foodstuff sector.

Various potential projects of storing and re-exporting foodstuff from and to Sohar Port, as well as the potential cooperation in areas of science, technology and logistic sector were also in focus.

Besides, the Oman South African Friendship Association (OSAFA) has been, over a period of time, facilitating trade ties between the two countries, thanks to the constant encouragement and continuous efforts by the diplomatic office in Muscat, according to the fruits and vegetables vendors who visited the country recently.