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