Sudan’s Bashir to visit UAE on Saturday

February 20, 2015 (KHARTOUM) – A high-level Sudanese delegation headed by president Omer Hassan al-Bashir will pay an official visit on Saturday to the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to discuss bilateral ties and issues of common concern.

Last week, Sudan’s minister of investment, Mustafa Osman Ismail, told reporters that Bashir will visit several Gulf states including Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait and Bahrain during the coming days.

Over the few years there have been mounting signs of deteriorating relations between Khartoum and Gulf states capitals, except Doha. Observers speculated that Sudan’s growing ties with Iran could have been the reason.

The mostly Sunni Muslim Arab Gulf states are wary of Iranian influence in the Middle East, fearing the Shiite-led country is seeking regional dominance that will stir sectarian tensions.

However, last year Sudanese authorities ordered the closure of Iranian cultural centre in the capital Khartoum, and other states in a move which was seen as gesture to the Arab Gulf states.

Several Saudi and UAE banks had suspended financial transactions with Sudan last year.

The Sudanese delegation to UAE will include the presidential minister, Salah Wanasi, the foreign minister, Ali Karti, the defence minister, Abdel-Rahim Mohamed Hussein and the director of the National Intelligence and Security Services (NISS), Mohamed Atta.

It will also include the minister of commerce, Osman Omer al-Shareef, the minister of labor, Ishraqa Sayed Mahmoud, the investment minister, Mustafa Osman Ismail besides the director-general of the police and the governor of Sudan’s central bank.

(ST)