ASSISTANCE REQUEST FOR OMANI INVESTMENT CHIEF'S

UNCLAS MUSCAT 000032 SIPDIS SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR NEA/ARP, EEB/CBA STATE PASS USTR FOR JBUNTIN COMMERCE FOR ITA THOFFMAN E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECON EINV ETRD PREL MU SUBJECT: ASSISTANCE REQUEST FOR OMANI INVESTMENT CHIEF'S VISIT TO WASHINGTON ¶1. (U) This is an action request. Please see paragraph 2. ¶2. (U) Embassy requests the assistance of Washington agencies in scheduling appointments with appropriate officials from the Department of State, Department of Commerce, Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR),Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC),and Ex-Im Bank, among others, for Omani Center for Investment Promotion and Export Development (OCIPED) Executive President Salem bin Nasser al-Ismaily. Embassy is also seeking meetings with the Business Council for International Understanding and the National Foreign Trade Council. Ismaily will be in Washington on January 28-30 to discuss Omani economic promotion efforts associated with the implementation of the U.S.- Oman Free Trade Agreement (FTA). He will be accompanied by Sayyid Faisal al-Said, chief of Oman's branding initiative and member of the royal family. Ismaily's Washington stop will be preceded by his visit to Atlanta to participate in a World Economic Freedom Index meeting on January 23-24. ¶3. (SBU) Background. Ismaily has served as OCIPED's Executive President since its establishment by royal decree in 1996. His is an assistant secretary-equivalent position. Previous to this position, Ismaily was the Managing Director for the Public Establishment for Industrial Estates (PEIE) from 1984 until 1996. He is a U.S.-educated engineer who entered the government in the early 1980s, beginning his career under current Minister of National Economy Ahmed bin Abdul Nabi Macki. Born in Ibra, Oman, he spent most of his childhood in Zanzibar. An excellent Embassy contact, Ismaily is fluent in English and one of Oman's primary interlocutors with foreign audiences at trade and investment conferences. He also sits on a number of boards in Oman, including Bank Muscat, and sponsors American university students studying in Oman through the SIT (School for International Training) program. ¶4. (U) The government established OCIPED in 1996 to attract trade and investment to the Sultanate. Its website serves as a resource for those interested in doing business in Oman. Similar to the Foreign Commercial Service (FCS),OCIPED sponsors Omani officials abroad to promote bilateral economic engagement. (Note: Omani Ambassador to the U.S. Hunaina al-Mughairy was OCIPED's representative in New York before assuming her current position in Washington. End Note.) OCIPED's assistance was instrumental in our holding of an FTA awareness conference in Muscat in December 2006, and the Embassy worked closely with OCIPED in conducting two MEPI-sponsored FTA studies on the competitiveness of the Omani economy. The organization is a key player in developing a branding campaign for Oman, which will include promotion of an upcoming FTA roadshow in the United States. The planned tour, with stops in New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, and Washington, DC, will include Oman's Ministers of National Economy and Commerce and Industry, as well as representatives from the country's major corporations. One of Ismaily's objectives for his visit is to discuss this concept with appropriate U.S. public and private sector officials. End Background. GRAPPO