Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Makes First State Visit to Kazakhstan

Sultan Haitham bin Tariq Al Said of Oman arrived in Astana on October 5, 2026, for the first state visit by an Omani Sultan to Kazakhstan and the Central Asian region. He met with President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev to elevate bilateral relations across economic, political, and cultural spheres.

A primary outcome of the talks was the signing of an agreement concerning the Dunga oil field. The leaders also focused on developing a multimodal transport corridor to link Kazakh railway and road networks with Omani ports, which would allow Kazakh exports such as wheat to use Oman as a regional logistics outlet.

Bilateral trade has grown rapidly, increasing from RO 421,500 in 2025 to RO 22,883,700 in the first half of 2026. To institutionalize this growth, the Government of Oman established the Omani-Kazakh Joint Committee for Economic, Trade, Investment, and Tourism Cooperation via Royal decree. Additional agreements are expected to cover artificial intelligence, health, agriculture, and air transport.

President Tokayev highlighted the need for more direct commercial flights to facilitate travel and increase tourism, which has already risen following mutual visa exemptions and existing flights between Muscat and Almaty.