Oman and China signed a currency swap agreement between the two countries’ central banks, along with 23 investment and strategic partnership deals and 14 cooperation documents, in Beijing during Sultan Haitham bin Tariq’s state visit.

The yuan–rial swap was set at 30 billion yuan (1.5 billion Omani rials), with a five-year term, in a ceremony witnessed by the leaders of both countries. Xi Jinping told the sultan that the Gulf region, in the Middle East, should not become an arena for great-power rivalry and geopolitical conflict, according to China’s Foreign Ministry, which said special envoy Zhai Jun would visit Iran, Oman and Saudi Arabia this month.