Egypt’s PM, Sudan’s Taha hold talks on economic cooperation
September 19, 2012 (KHARTOUM) – The visiting Prime Minister of Egypt, Hisham Qandil, held talks on Wednesday’s evening with Sudan’s first Vice-President, Ali Osman Mohammed Taha, and discussed various aspects of bilateral relations and economic cooperation between the two countries.
His visit follows the two-day visit on 16 September of Sudan President Omer Al-Bashir to Cairo, where he held a summit with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi and discussed ways of boosting bilateral relations especially on economy, trade and the regional dispute over Nile Water shares.
The Egyptian delegation’s meeting with Taha meeting was attended by Sudanese ministers of industry, trade, agriculture, planning and investment. The two sides discussed ways of activating all joint agreements especially in the fields of industry, trade and investment.
The talks witnessed the emergence of several proposals on economic cooperation, including the establishment of a joint project for the production of animal resources and exporting Sudanese meat products to Egypt.
The delegates also discussed the possibility of establishing a tripartite enterprise with Qatar to plant wheat in 2000 acres of arable land in Sudan’s northern state.
Qandil is due to inaugurate a branch of the National Bank of Egypt in Khartoum in order to increase the rate of trade activities between the two countries and encourage Sudanese and Egyptian businessmen to invest.
Sudan and Egypt signed a number of agreements in recent years including on the four freedoms of movement, residence, work and ownership of property but the progress of implementation was slow.
The Islamist government of Sudan hopes that the rise of their fellow Islamists to power in Egypt will lead to stronger ties as opposed to the strained relations with the former regime of President Hosni Mubarak.
(ST)