Foreign Relations
Although Oman enjoys a high degree of internal stability, regional tensions in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf War and the Iran-Iraq war continue to necessitate large defense expenditures. In 2001, Oman budgeted $2.4 billion for defense—about 33% of its gross domestic product. Oman maintains a small but professional and effective military, supplied mainly with British equipment in addition to items from the United States, France, and other countries. British officers, on loan or on contract to the Sultanate, help staff the armed forces, although a program of "Omanization" has steadily increased the proportion of Omani officers over the past several years.
After North and South Yemen merged in May 1990, Oman settled its border disputes with the new Republic of Yemen on 1 October 1992. The two neighbors have cooperative bilateral relations. Oman's borders with all neighbors are demarcated.
Read more about this topic: Government Of Oman
Famous quotes containing the words foreign and/or relations:
“Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations, may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong.”
—Stephen Decatur (1779–1820)
“Major [William] McKinley visited me. He is on a stumping tour.... I criticized the bloody-shirt course of the canvass. It seems to me to be bad “politics,” and of no use.... It is a stale issue. An increasing number of people are interested in good relations with the South.... Two ways are open to succeed in the South: 1. A division of the white voters. 2. Education of the ignorant. Bloody-shirt utterances prevent division.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)