Oman wants to be “friend with all, enemy with none.” So the country is much in demand as a mediator in conflicts in the region, and in the EU we are grateful for the fact that it has repeatedly successfully intervened in this area, for example in the Yemen war and regarding the release of Western prisoners in Iran. At the same time, we criticize, for example, the lack of representation of women in political office and the restriction of civil liberties, or Oman’s silence on human rights violations in neighboring countries.

This was the context in which I travelled to Oman as head of the European Parliament’s delegation to the Arabian Peninsula, together with other MEPs. Many meetings were on the agenda, e.g. a discussion with students of the Diplomatic Academy of Oman, appointments at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the Shura Council (the Consultative Assembly in Oman) and a discussion with women entrepreneurs in the field of renewable energies. In fact, Oman has something like our Green Deal: the country wants to be CO2 neutral by 2050 and is taking many steps in this direction. What were the results of our meetings? Read more in the report below.