Kazakhstan and Oman Sign Preliminary Strategic Partnership Agreement

Kazakhstan and Oman Sign Preliminary Strategic Partnership Agreement

Executive Summary:

• On April 24, Oman and Kazakhstan inked a preliminary agreement to establish a strategic partnership, marking a shift in bilateral relations and paving the way for greater cooperation between Central Asia and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries.
• The expanding partnership fits into Kazakhstan’s growing foreign policy outreach to the Gulf region, which is a part of the multi-vector foreign policy pursued by Astana that ramped up after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 made economic dependency on Russia more geopolitically risky. 
• Though Kazakhstan and Oman are more than 1,000 miles from each other, they share an interest in tapping into the changing connectivity patterns across both Eurasia and the Middle East.

On April 24, Oman and Kazakhstan inked a preliminary agreement to establish a strategic partnership. This agreement marks a shift in bilateral relations and paves the way for greater cooperation between Central Asia and Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries (Times of Oman, April 24). Kazakh Prime Minister Olzhas Bektenov also met with Ziyazin bin Haitham Al Said, Oman’s deputy prime minister for economic affairs. Following the meeting, Kazakhstan’s Samruk-Kazyna joint stock company (JSC) and the Oman Investment Authority reached an agreement on investment cooperation to expand cooperation in energy, transport, logistics, mining, metallurgy, digitalization, agriculture, and tourism. The document lays the institutional foundation for the formation of a joint investment platform, Kazakh–Omani enterprises, and investment funds (Anadolu Ajansı, April 24).

Kazakhstan and Oman’s joint portfolio includes five projects worth $3 billion. Two projects worth $1.1 billion have already been implemented in the energy and rail transportation sectors, and projects in ore processing are underway (Kapital, April 24). Muscat and Astana are now working on launching new investment funds, joint project financing, and the development of key infrastructure.

Bilateral Kazakh–Omani economic relations have been steadily gaining momentum over the past few months. On April 22, at a plenary session, members of Kazakhstan’s Majilis—the lower house of the Parliament of Kazakhstan—ratified the Agreement between the Governments of Kazakhstan and the Sultanate of Oman on the Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Prevention of Tax Evasion, which is meant to facilitate economic cooperation with Oman, create favorable conditions for investment, and expand bilateral trade (Zakon.kz, April 22). A few days later, on April 29, a Kazakh delegation visited Muscat to meet with Omani ministries and investment funds including the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Ministry of Economy, and several major Omani companies. The delegation also visited the Sohar Free Economic Zone to learn about its infrastructure and logistics capabilities (Kazakh Invest, April 29).

The expanding partnership with Oman fits into Kazakhstan’s growing foreign policy outreach to the Gulf region. This push is part of the multi-vector foreign policy pursued by Astana, which ramped up after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 made economic dependency on Russia more geopolitically risky. Astana’s engagement with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has also grown since 2022 (The Astana Times, November 16, 2022; Kazakh Ministry of Foreign Affairs, November 25, 2025). Both have invested in Kazakhstan and pledged to increase bilateral trade. The ties with Oman are a relatively new development in Kazakhstan’s foreign policy and highlight Astana’s expanding turn to the Middle East, particularly to the GCC.

Relations with Oman could help link Kazakhstan to eastern Africa. Oman’s role as an influential mediator in Middle East conflicts also makes it politically attractive to Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan can likewise serve as a bridge to Oman’s outreach in Central Asia. Muscat has been simultaneously expanding economic relations with Astana’s key ally, Moscow, with bilateral trade increasing by over 63 percent between 2020 and 2025 (TASS, November 13, 2015). These growing relationships tie into Muscat’s ambitious “Oman Vision 2040” project, which aims to reduce its dependence on oil and gas revenue by diversifying its economy in high-growth sectors (Oman Vision 2040, accessed May 12)

Kazakhstan and Oman share an interest in adapting to changing connectivity patterns across Eurasia and the Middle East. Oman is interested in a logistics partnership with Kazakhstan that could link it to the Trans-Caspian International Transport Route (TITR or Middle Corridor)—a trade route that connects Asia and Europe via Central Asia and the South Caucasus (UkrAgroConsult, June 2, 2025). For Oman, with its maritime access and developed port infrastructure, logistics is a rational area for international cooperation. Saudi Arabia and the UAE have also recently invested heavily in other countries lying along the Middle Corridor, including Georgia and Azerbaijan (see EDM, February 5, 2025). Though the GCC is often seen as an entity that acts in unison, its members are also competitors. Another transport route is a corridor between Kazakhstan and Oman through Iran. The countries discussed the possibility of establishing a joint Kazakh–Omani logistics company to build this corridor in 2025 (APK Inform, September 29, 2025). This year’s Iran conflict, however, exposed the limits of transit corridors that hinge on routes through Iran or the surrounding areas.