Egypt invites Bashir to attend investment African forum
January 17, 2016 (KHARTOUM) – The Sudanese president Omer al-Bashir has received an invitation from his Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fatah al-Sissi to attend the African Investment Forum (AIF) at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Shiekh from 20 to 21 February 2016.
Sudan’s foreign ministry spokesperson Ali al-Sadiq told reporters that the Egyptian ambassador to Khartoum Osama Shaltout Sunday has handed over Bashir’s invitation to the foreign minister Ibrahim Ghandour.
He added Shaltout told Ghandour that delegations from a number of Egyptian companies would arrive soon in Khartoum to invest in various projects.
Relations between Sudan and Egypt have been frosty over the past few years, but they’ve recently begun to thaw thanks to a series of conciliatory diplomatic gestures.
In October 2014, al-Sisi and al-Bashir upgraded representation in a joint committee aimed at strengthening bilateral ties.
AGRICULTURAL COOPERATION IN DAMAZIN
Meanwhile, Egypt’s minister of irrigation and water resources Hossam Moghazi announced that his country would revive agriculture scheme in Sudan’s strife-ridden Blue Nile state.
Moghazi, who addressed the opening session of the 56 th meeting of the Egypt-Sudan Permanent Joint Technical Commission for Nile Waters (PJTC) Sunday, said they would cultivate 100,000 acres in the Damazin area of the Blue Nile state, pointing the Egyptian-Sudanese Integration Company would be contracted for the job.
Moghazi added the two countries agreed to renew the lease of the company which was established more than 40 years ago for another 30 years, noting the ministry of irrigation would build the necessary infrastructure for the project in coordination with the Sudanese side.
For his part, the director of the technical department at Sudan’s ministry of electricity and water resources Saif al-Din Hamad said the PJTC continued to set an example to be followed by the various international commissions for 55 years.
He pointed to the cooperation of the PTJC with the Nile basin countries, describing it as the “cornerstone” of its work.
Hamad further said the PTJC continued to provide support for the Nile basin since the early sixties of the last century through various cooperation programs.
The director of the Nile Waters sector in the Egyptian ministry of irrigation Ahmed Bahaa said the meeting, which would last for one week, will discuss several issues including the current activities of the PTJC and the technical cooperation and water development projects in South Sudan besides the water loss in the upper Nile.
He added the meeting would also discuss ways to develop monitoring and measurement operations on the Nile River and its tributaries besides restructuring the PTJC’s career system.