Inside Washington
meets the Gulf.

As Gulf security, energy corridors, and U.S. competition with China dominate the national-security agenda, the Sultanate of Oman has emerged as one of Washington's most consequential — and quietest — partners. Oman shares the Strait of Hormuz with Iran, hosts long-standing U.S. defense access agreements, and serves as the discreet back-channel through which much of the region's diplomacy actually moves.

The Forum convenes senior leaders from government, sovereign capital, infrastructure, technology, logistics, energy, and industry to translate that strategic posture into commercial and capital alignment.

For YPO members already coming to Inside Washington, the Forum offers the same lens — sovereign relationships, strategic corridors, capital flows — from the perspective of the parties making the investments and signing the agreements.

Global systems are being reshaped by artificial intelligence infrastructure, resilient supply chains, sovereign investment, energy transformation, and evolving geopolitical alignment.

As capital and infrastructure priorities reorganize globally, the Gulf region is becoming increasingly important to the future of trade, technology, industrial development, and cross-border investment.

Oman occupies a uniquely strategic position within this transformation — with direct access to the Indian Ocean, longstanding diplomatic relationships, significant infrastructure investment, and one of the few Free Trade Agreements between the United States and the region.

Zahra was created to convene the relationships shaping what comes next.