Sudanese energy minister knocking on Opec’s door
Dec 12, 2005 (KUWAIT) — The Sudanese Minister of Energy and Mining Dr Awad Al-Jaz is visiting Kuwait to attend a special meeting of Opec ministers. Sudan was granted ‘observer’ status for this meeting. His visit to Kuwait aims to strengthen the economic relationship between the two countries and he will meet with both important government officials and business leaders. To mark his visit, the Sudanese ambassador to Kuwait Yousef Ahmad held a press conference at the Sudanese embassy where Al-Jaz spoke about the current situation in Sudan. “Sudan now is totally stabilised, after signing the peace agreement. All Sudanese have agreed that there is no use to war and conflict, so the agreement was signed for the good future of the whole nation.” Al-Jaz added that the agreement had the support of the whole country, and even Sudanese living outside the state. “We put together the Southern constitution along with the constitutions of the other states or provinces to the interim constitution, and this organised the relations in Sudan and stabilised the situation. Only minor problem remains in the west and the east, which will be soon solved,” he said.
He also added that the motto of the new Sudanese government is ‘No fights, no conflicts’, and this should encourage the Sudanese who live outside the country to return to their homeland. According to Al-Jaz, “Sudan is the largest Arab country, with ten neighbouring states and the largest area. There is oil and gas in all areas of Sudan in addition to all kinds of metals spread all over Sudan. Also, it’s time to give the agriculture lands back to their owners.” As an economy, Sudan is now looking for development in all fields and is encouraging inward investment. “The investment laws in Sudan encourage the investors to come, as the economic development is increasing about 10 per cent each year, also every year there are patents registered. The Sudanese currency is systematically increasing. And today I take this opportunity to invite the interested investors to visit Sudan and they will be most welcomed and have all the facilities provided by the government” said Al-Jaz.
Oil was discovered in Sudan only six years ago. The minister commented on this by saying, “Although we are new in the field, we are now managing different oil activities such as exploration, building pipelines and refineries. We also upgraded to 100,000 barrels a day, and we aim to reach a new capacity of 150,000 barrels a day. We also built a Centre of Information and another Centre for Technical Training. Also, there is now more development of infrastructure, universities and many other fields.” At the Opec meeting, information about the oil market will be given, which will be attended by observers and the high committee is responsible for the final decisions. “By attending this meeting we will learn how to stabilise the price of oil, along with other things, and we hope to become a member of Opec soon” he added.
Kuwait Times