His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik will pay a State Visit to the United Kingdom (UK), starting from Monday. This came in a statement issued by the Diwan of Royal Court.
“In reinforcement of the enduring historical bonds between the Sultanate of Oman and the friendly United Kingdom, and in response to the gracious invitation extended to His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik from His Majesty King Charles III of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and Head of the Commonwealth, His Majesty the Sultan will pay state visit to the United Kingdom from Monday.
“His Majesty the Sultan’s visit to the United Kingdom comes within the framework of reinforcing all that would elevate the facets of cooperation existing between the two countries across various domains, and the means of developing them in service of their mutual interests and aspirations in the present and the future. During the visit, the two leaderships will hold consultation and coordination on various developments on the regional and international arenas.”
HISTORICAL ROOTS
Omani-British relations draw their historical roots from the convergence of two maritime powers in the Indian Ocean, a beginning embodied in the Treaty of 1800 that enshrined a framework of “permanent friendship” between the two countries. On January 18 of that year, Sayyid Sultan bin Ahmed and Captain John Malcolm, envoy of the British Governor-General in India, signed a supplementary agreement affirming the Treaty of 1798 and stipulating that “the friendship of the two States may remain unshook till the end of time, and till the sun and moon have finished their revolving career.”
Dr Nasser bin Abdullah al Saqri, Assistant Professor of Modern and Contemporary History at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), said that the state visit by His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik to the United Kingdom acquires exceptional historical and civilisational significance. It comes as an extension of relations whose roots reach back to the late eighteenth century, evoking a long legacy of political communication and civilisational interaction between the two countries, and carries profound symbolic meaning as the first state visit to the United Kingdom since 1982, embodying the continuity and renewal of relations across generations and eras.
He said that Omani-British relations are read as a unique or exceptional model within the context of Britain’s relations with the countries of the region — a distinction owed not merely to their antiquity, but to the historical and diplomatic characteristics that set them apart in both quantity and quality.
He said that the continuity of Omani-British relations across disparate historical periods is explained as the product of conscious diplomatic engineering, having succeeded in transcending historical phases marked by tensions and major events that swept the region — from the Cold War and the post-colonial era, to the emergence of oil and the transformations it wrought, to globalisation and the rise of new powers, and on to the crises the region currently witnesses. At every stage, the relationship between the two countries was redefined in keeping with the context. — ONA
