Italian investors are being called to fund the development of the Duqm Special Economic Zone in Oman, following its latest promotional campaign in Rome.

The campaign took place in the Italian capital during late September, and a number of Italian investors are said to have expressed interest in projects covering sectors such as infrastructure, transport, roads and fishing marinas.

Italian firms were also keen to see how they could benefit from Duqm’s strategic geographic position in setting up export-related projects that could target Asian markets.

Earlier in September, Duqm’s Special Economic Zone Authority (Sezad) signed an agreement with local Bank Sohar in order to ensure there is adequate local funding to support businesses looking to set up operations within the zone.

Under the terms of the agreement the bank will support access to the required financing.

Financing products to be provided to investors could include term loans, mortgages, corporate credit facilities as well as financing for small-and-medium-sized companies.

Sezad signed a similar agreement with the National Bank of Oman in July. The authority aims to sign further financing memorandum of understandings (MOU) with other local banks in the near future.

“Duqm is a huge project, a container port, dry dock, refinery, petrochemicals complexes, villages, tourism, hotels, industry and freezone. We are very excited about the Duqm plan and its future and we want to participate and help this huge project be a success,” Mohammed Mahfoodh al-Ardhi, Chairman at National Bank of Oman told MEED following the signing of its MOU earlier this year.