Sudan’s leader Burhan in Spain for development finance conference

June 29, 2025 (SEVILLE, Spain) – Sudanese leader Abdel Fattah al-Burhan arrived in Seville, Spain, on Sunday for a rare trip to Europe to attend an international development conference at the invitation of the United Nations and Spain, his office said.

Burhan is scheduled to address the conference on Monday, where he is expected to discuss the challenges to development posed by the war against the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF), according to a statement from the Sudanese embassy in Madrid.

He will also affirm Sudan’s commitment to global development goals and call for international cooperation, the embassy said.

The conference, with representatives from over 120 countries, will address topics including the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, debt relief, and the reform of international financial institutions.

Running from June 30 to July 3 at the Sevilla Exhibition and Conference Centre, the summit is the first of its kind in a decade. The previous U.N. conference on development financing was held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in 2015.

The event is sponsored by the U.N.’s International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), which will advocate for increased investment in rural and agricultural development to address global poverty and hunger. Burhan is also expected to hold meetings with high-level officials, including a European Union envoy, during his visit.