German minister to start four-day visit to Sudan Monday
May 21, 2006 (KHARTOUM) — The German State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Gernot Erler, is due to start Monday a four-day official visit to Sudan in which he would meet number of senior Sudanese officials.
The German Minister would meet the Vice President, Ali Osman Mohamed Taha, Presidential Advisor Mustafa Osman Ismail, and the State Minister for Foreign Affairs, Al-Wasila Al-Samani. Also the visiting minister will hold talks with Representatives of the ruling National Congress and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM).
The Sudanese – German talks would touch on the progress of the bilateral relations at the political, economic and cultural domains as well as the possibility of establishing a joint committee for political consultations between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the two countries.
Erler will go also El-Sereif camp near the town of Nyala in Sudan’s southern Darfur region to visit humanitarian child projects held by German Charity organisations.
The meetings would also discuss horizons of investment of the German private sector in Sudan and benefiting from the German experiences in the federal governance as well as vocational training institutes.
The German minister would be acquainted with the implementation of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and the situation in Darfur on the light of the recent Abuja Peace Agreement.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel who left Berlin for Beijing today, on her first visit to China since she became German chancellor, will call on China to play a bigger role in solving international issues, including the nuclear crisis in Iran and the disputes in Sudan.
The chancellor is due to meet Chinese President Hu Jintao and Pemier Wen Jiabao on Monday before flying to Shanghai on Tuesday where she is scheduled to make a speech at the German Chamber of Commerce.
(ST)