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: Politics Of Oman
Famous quotes containing the words foreign and/or relations:
“Was I not born in this Realm? Were my parents born in any foreign country?... Is not my Kingdom here? Whom have I oppressed? Whom have I enriched to other’s harm? What turmoil have I made to this Commonwealth that I should be suspected to have no regard of the same?”
—Elizabeth I (1533–1603)
“Society does not consist of individuals but expresses the sum of interrelations, the relations within which these individuals stand.”
—Karl Marx (1818–1883)