Muscat, January 30:

India is looking to set up joint ventures in Oman for manufacture of bulk drugs and has also sought fast-track registration of Indian medicines.

Ram Vilas Paswan, Indian minister of chemicals, fertiliser and steel, said here yesterday that there was a lot of opportunities for Indian joint ventures in Oman. In his meetings with officials, Paswan raised the issue of fast track registration of Indian medicines which, he said, were cost-effective and conformed to the strict international standards. Paswan, who was here for the opening of a $1 billion joint venture fertiliser project, also discussed the po-ssibility of joint ventures in Oman for manufacture of bulk actives as well as dosage forms of drugs.

The two sides looked at possibilities of technical cooperation between Oman and Indian Pharma companies and collaborative work for skill development. The minister, who led a high-level delegation to Oman, pointed out that there was a lot of scope for setting up joint ventures in petro-based projects.