Sudan, China plan to open Khartoum-Beijing direct flights

May 20, 2007 (BEIJING) – Sudan and China are planning to open direct flights between Beijing and Khartoum to strengthen the fast-growing economic and commercial relations between the two countries

Mirghani Mohamed Salih, Sudan’s ambassador to China, said that direct flights will run between the two capitals this year under the recent agreement signed between the Sudanese Civil Aviation Authority and its Chinese counterpart on air transport services.

He further told the official SUNA last week that these flights would be implemented under the directives of the presidents of the two countries, which came about during the Chinese president’s visit to Sudan in February and will connect the two capitals by air for the transport of passengers and goods.

Salih also pointed out that a high-ranking official from the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration will visit Sudan in the coming days to negotiate ways to enter into joint investments in the field of air services in the Sudan.

He said that this step comes as a result of the initiatives and efforts made by the Sudanese Embassy to connect the two capitals by air since 2004, in the context of intensification of political exchanges and trade expansion.

(ST)