Sudan’s Bashir flies to Saudi Arabia Sunday
June 7, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – Sudanese President Omer al-Bashir will fly to Saudi Arabia next Sunday for talks with King Salman on bilateral relations.
The visit is expected to discuss financial support to Khartoum which suffers a shortfall in foreign currency since the 2011 independence of South Sudan which took 75% of oil production fields.
A source close to the ongoing preparations told Sudan Tribune that al-Bashir will discuss with Salman bilateral ties and the regional developments. Also, it said that the two-day visit will touch Saudi pledges to support the Sudanese economy.
The Sudanese trade minister Hatim Alsir travelled to Jeddah where he met with Saudi trade and investment minister and Saudi minister of agriculture.
According to the Saudi News agency, he discussed ways to improve joint economic relations and increase the volume of trade exchange, as well as to identify the large investment opportunities offered by the economies of the two countries.
It is not clear if he would sign economic agreements between the two countries when al-Bashir be in Saudi Arabia.
Last May, Sudan’s oil minister Abdel Rahman Osman said an agreement would be concluded between the two countries to provide Sudan with 1.8 million tonnes of oil a year during five years at preferential prices.
However, it appeared later that the Saudi Development Bank which will guarantee the credit refused to give its approval for the deal.
Following what, the Saudi ambassador to Sudan Ali Bin Hassan Jaafar sought to reassure Khartoum saying Sudanese would hear good news soon.
(ST)