The United Arab Emirates and the Sultanate Oman have forged deep historical ties since the founding of the UAE by Sheikh Zayed ben Sultan Al Nahyan, may God have mercy on him in 1971, and with his ardent desire to establish close and lasting relations with the Sultanate of Oman.

Bilateral relations between the two countries are an example of what brotherly relations should be like, both bilaterally and within the framework of the Gulf Cooperation Council. Over the past years, the wise leadership of the two brotherly countries has provided strong will and continued support to push the deep-rooted relations between them to a broad horizon, placing them in the rank of special and distinguished relations at various levels, which reflected a level of excellence and sophistication.

Over the past decades, the two countries have witnessed a number of stages. During the 1990s, specifically in 1991, the historic visit of the late Sheikh Zayed ben Sultan Al Nahyane, to the Sultanate, aimed at pushing relations between the two countries to a new direction that strengthens the strong bond between them. A joint higher committee was formed between the two countries, aiming to strengthen joint cooperation.

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The first result of the joint committee was the decision to allow Emirati and Omani nationals to travel between the two countries only through personal identity cards, without the need for a passport or a visa.

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The Joint Commission reflected the desire of both countries to develop and strengthen effective cooperation on the principle of mutual and common interest in various fields, and in implementation of the directives of the two leaderships. The first meeting of the Joint Commission began in November 1991 and included the areas of cooperation in the areas of automation of land crossings, land transport, cargo transport, capital markets, consumer protection, marine environment, electricity linkage, civil aviation, civil service, education, health and civil defense.

Perhaps the most prominent embodiment of the strong relations between the two countries is the volume of non-oil trade exchange, which recorded during the first nine months of 2018, about 32.5 billion dirhams. It continued to grow in the same year to the end, reaching about 45 billion dirhams. The average growth in the volume of non-oil foreign trade between the two countries during the past five years is estimated at 10%.

Oman was also the second largest trading partner of the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf Cooperation Council in 2017, and ranked 12th in the world in terms of investment. The UAE is one of the most important investors in the Sultanate of Oman, with an estimated total investment of 8.8 billion dirhams by the end of 2016. In contrast, Oman invests in the United Arab Emirates at more than 3.1 billion dirhams by the end of 2016.

This is confirmed by the number of Emirati-Omani joint ventures, of which there were approximately 2,800 until January 2019, with concentrated investments in the manufacturing, energy, water, financial, construction, real estate and trade sectors.