MUSCAT: Oman’s State General Reserve Fund (SGRF) and Spain’s Compañía Española de Financiación del Desarrollo (Cofides) will launch a €200mn joint fund to help Spanish companies with their expansion plans, mostly in the sultanate and the region.
Cofides is a Spanish private-public concern which provides financial support to Spanish enterprises abroad.
SGRF and Spain will each contribute €100mn to the fund.
SGRF executive president H E Abdulsalam al Murshidi and Salvador Marin, Cofides chairman and CEO, signed the cooperation agreement in Muscat on Wednesday in the presence of the Secretary of State for Trade of Spain, Jaime García-Legaz, and H E Dr Ali al Sunaidy, Minister of Commerce and Industry.
The agreement focuses on firms interested in conducting business in Oman and targeting GCC countries, East Africa, South Asia and Southeast Asia.
The fund will allow Oman to benefit from the expertise and technological know-how of Spanish companies through job creation, technology transfer and investment-return. The principal focus sectors of the fund will be building materials, food, infrastructure, energy and tourism. The fund is expected to be launched towards the end of the second quarter in order to make the first investments available by the end of this year.
Marin said, “This is going to be specific and lasting relationship between Oman and Spain.”
H E Murshidi said, “This partnership strongly reflects the depth of the relationship between our two countries. The fund is founded on mutual interest. It couples the Spanish technologies with Oman’s attractive business environment, which in turns, will increase the competitiveness of Spanish industries in global markets and enhances the diversification of the Omani economy, utilises Oman’s raw materials, and proximity to the targeted markets.”
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