Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday invited the captains of Oman’s industry and finance to invest surplus liquidity in key infrastructure sectors in India which he said would require $500 billion to be pumped in over the next five years. Coming against the backdrop of the global economic meltdown, Singh’s first visit as Prime Minister to the Gulf region assumes significance as he is clearly targeting the almost five million strong Indian expat community to invest majorly in the Indian economy, even as he prepares for the first visit by an Indian PM to Qatar later in the day.

The Prime Minister, while appreciating the Indian community in Oman that is already making annual remittances to the tune of $780 million, called upon them to “continue to display the same confidence in the future and invest in the future of our children and grand children.” Referring to the bilateral trade between the two countries, he said the total non-oil trade which was less than $200 million in 2000 had gone up seven-fold to around $1.4 billion this year. “I am told this figure could soon cross $2 billion,” he said.

Singh expressed his faith in the strong fundamentals of the Indian economy in the face of the economic crisis. “Due to the current international economic and financial situation, our growth rate may come down somewhat next year. However, we still hope to achieve a growth rate of 7 to 7.5 per cent next year. The fundamentals of our economy are strong. Our banking system and financial institutions are well capitalised and secure. I have constituted a high-level committee to monitor the situation and suggest short-term and long-term measure to use this opportunity to further accelerate our growth,” he said.

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